We Are Your Family, Too!
by LBIGreyhound13
Summary: Pitch creates a new poison-green sand that infects a person's mind, slowly driving them mad. It makes them do things, things they can't remember. Slowly, he begins the task of breaking down the one Guardian that could stand up to him in a fight, and fight through the fear-all because his hate was so much stronger than any fear. STORY IDEA ADOPTED!
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** Hello, hello! If you came here because of my first ROTG fanfic, welcome back! If you're new here, welcome to my newest ROTG fanfic! That's right! This is _We Are Your Family, Too!_ Now, before we move onto the first chapter, as stated in the summary, this story idea was adopted from another fanfic user, so I didn't originally plan on writing this. But I loved the ideas that came with the summary provided by the user, so I decided to take up the offer to adopt it.

So, as I stated in my previous story, this is a sequel to _Believe It_. It takes place two months after that story, but it has a different plot. However, for the new readers, events from the previous story will be referenced, so if you want to know what the characters will be talking about, then I would recommend reading _Believe It._ As I said in my previous story, my ROTG fanfics take place in one timeline as a mini-series and will eventually work up to a grand finale.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this one as well! Once again, I'll try to update weekly, but I've been so busy with grad school and such so the updates might be a little more spread out. Plus, I'm planning to write another multi-chapter fic as well, so I plan to give each story the attention it deserves.

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to** _ **Rise of the Guardians.**_

* * *

Chapter 1

It had been two months since North saved Jack from the Boogeyman's influence and since Pitch was imprisoned in Sandy's cocoon, and needless to say, life had been getting significantly better for the five Guardians, especially the Guardian of Fun. The winter teen, who was once forced to endure 300 years of not being seen or believed in, continued to enjoy his new life as a Guardian with North, the Guardian of Wonder as his adoptive father, Tooth, the Guardian of Memories as his mother figure, and Bunny and Sandy, the Guardians of Hope and Dreams as his older brothers, especially Bunny. While Jack and Sandy had always been on good terms before the former was chosen, Jack and Bunny had somewhat of a rocky start. However, thanks to the Man in the Moon and the events that occurred over the last few months, the relationship between the boy and the Pooka began to improve. In fact that was who Jack was visiting today.

While North was uneasy about the fact that Jack and Bunny would be alone with the imprisoned Boogeyman in the Warren, Bunny himself assured North that they were going to be nowhere near Pitch whenever Jack came to visit. Even Bunny himself tried to avoid contact with Pitch unless he and Sandy needed to check on the Nightmare King. Nevertheless, North complied and trusted Bunny and Jack to steer clear of Pitch. Little did they know that the Nightmare King was once again up to something.

* * *

Pitch Black felt his strength slowly coming back…just as he predicted two months ago when the Guardians first trapped him in here. That was pretty much the only detail that had been keeping the Boogeyman from going completely mad. Aside from that, he was mad with revenge…eager to escape and to gain revenge on the five Guardians. Thankfully, all that time he spent in Sandy's prison gave him a chance to step back and to figure a foolproof plot, and from the amounts of fear he was sensing from the outside…he knew just the right Guardian to target first.

* * *

He ran as fast as he could. He wasn't exactly sure if he was running from something or to something. It was dark…smoke filled the clean, crisp air making it very hard to see two feet in front of him. From what he could see, there was nothing but rubble and burnt houses all around him, but there was no one around. It was almost as if everyone just picked up and left.

" _Aster…"_

He stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he heard his name called and looked around twitching his ears straining to find the source of the voice. There was nothing at first, but then…

" _Aster…"_

"Who's there?!" he shouted.

" _Aster…help me!"_

He recognized the voice and resumed running while hoping to find the source. "Where are you?!"

" _Here!"_

"Where?! I can't see!"

" _I'm over here! Please, Aster, don't abandon your family!"_

* * *

Green eyes snapped open as the Guardian of Hope jolted awake gasping for air. Breathing heavily, Bunny looked around trying to take in his surroundings. He was in his burrow in the Warren, and the sunlight peeking in through the cracks was an indication that it was morning. He had woken up from a horrible… _horrible_ nightmare. Well, it wasn't exactly a nightmare as it really did happen…a long, long time ago before he even became a Guardian. It had been so long since he had even thought about that awful day. Bunny sighed as all the painful memories came flooding back to him. All the running…screaming…fire…smoke…the fear… That was where Bunny stopped and realized something…something very crucial. Was this nightmare Pitch's doing? Was he doing it just to torment the Guardian of Hope? It had been a while since they trapped him, and he, North, Tooth, Sandy, and now Jack all knew that Pitch would regain strength from fear. Was this a sign? Was this—?

"Bunny!" a voice shouted jolting the Pooka out of his thoughts.

"Jack?" his Australian-accented voice asked in a whisper.

"Bunny, where are you?" the voice asked again. It was Jack, but why was he—?

Bunny felt his heart stop when he remembered that Jack was supposed to visit him today. The Pooka was so focused on that nightmare that he actually forgot about the newest Guardian's weekly visit to the Warren.

"Aw, crikey!" Bunny whispered to himself as he quickly stood up, stretched, and shook off any remainders of sleep. "Uh…I'm coming, Jack! Hold your horses, would ya?" The Guardian of Hope finally made a dash out of his burrow. "I'm sorry, Frostbite," he added as he climbed out. "I guess I over—" he stopped in his tracks when he saw something odd, "—slept." There was no sign of the winter teen anywhere near his burrow. He looked around in all directions, sniffed the air and twitched his ears to pick up any sound. However, it didn't seem like Jack Frost was in the Warren at all. "That's weird…I thought I heard-AHH!"

Next thing he knew, Bunny was tumbling a huge blur of blue and white on top of him only to suddenly stop with the Pooka on the bottom and…

Jack laughed as Bunny opened his green eyes wide staring into the boy's blue eyes. "Gotcha!" the Guardian of Fun said happily.

Bunny couldn't help but smile at the boy and rolled his eyes at his friend. "Yeah, yeah, you got me," he said chuckling as he gently pushed Jack to get him to stand up. "Now can you let me get up?"

The winter teen chuckled as he did what Bunny asked and stood up with a confident smile knowing he managed to tackle the Guardian of Hope. For the past two months, the Guardians of Hope and Fun always seemed to find themselves in a friendly competition at some point. Whether it was a race around Burgess or the Warren, rough-housing, or seeing who can sneak up on who, it was something both the Pooka and the winter teen always looked forward to during Jack's weekly visit. Bunny smirked at Jack as he began to stand up and realized that the boy wasn't looking at him, so the 6'1" Pooka decided to take advantage of the opportunity and leapt up pouncing Jack. The two of them tumbled a few times once again before Bunny finally landed on top of Jack.

"Now, I got _you_ ," the Pooka said smirking down at the winter teen.

Jack couldn't help but laugh as Bunny got up to let him stand up. "Okay, we'll call it even," he said as he stood up. "Hey, what happened to you? Oversleep or something?"

Bunny furrowed his eyebrows together. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, before I snuck up on you, you looked really shaken up," Jack replied. "Did I wake you up or something?"

Bunny paused for a brief moment wondering if he should even bother telling Jack about his nightmare. It wasn't because he didn't trust Jack or anything like that. No, things had been getting better between them ever since Jack became a Guardian, but this was very personal stuff…stuff that he wasn't sure he was ready to talk to Jack about. In fact, he hadn't really fully spoken about it with North, Tooth, and Sandy just yet, and he had been working with them longer than with Jack. Bunny wasn't sure if he ever truly moved on from what happened all those years ago.

"Uh…y-yeah, kind of," the Pooka finally said. "I…uh…I guess I overworked myself a bit last night and overslept a little. Not a big deal." It wasn't a total lie. He did work later than usual the night before between making sure he was prepared for the next Easter Sunday and making sure that Pitch wasn't up to anything suspicious.

"Really?" Jack asked as they took off to another part of the Warren. "I thought you said you deal with perishables while North gets all year to prepare."

Bunny couldn't help but chuckle at Jack's question. "Well, yeah, mate," he replied, "but it's not just painting eggs. I need the year to prepare new egg designs, get some new paint, look for new hiding spots…the whole nine yards."

Jack thought for a moment and realized that Bunny's statement actually made sense. It was like North said when Jack asked about his work. He needed a whole year to spice things up in the toy designs, and since Bunny had a job sort of similar to North's, it made sense that the Guardian of Hope would need the same amount of time as the Guardian of Wonder.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," Jack said, "but—" He stopped when a furry arm was suddenly held out in front of him. The boy looked to his left and saw that it was Bunny who stopped both of them in their tracks. "What is it?"

"Something's up," Bunny simply eyeing the Warren, twitching his ears, and sniffing the air. Something wasn't right.

Jack looked in front of them and even noticed a few of Bunny's eggs running away from something. The last time they did that was when Sophie, Jamie's little sister snuck into the Warren with North's snow globe. So, he readied his staff as he looked around trying to find anything out of the ordinary.

Suddenly, a huge blur of black emerged from the bushes rushing straight toward Jack and Bunny, but thankfully, with his cat-like reflexes. Jack fired a blast of frost right at the blur causing it to drop to the ground completely frozen. For a few moments, both Guardians stared at the thing that seemed like it was going to attack them. There was no doubt that that was the stranger's intention, for it was one of Pitch Black's nightmare stallions. However, it looked somewhat smaller than the ones that they fought on Easter Sunday, but that wasn't enough to ease the Guardians of Fun and Hope. So, Jack gently prodded the frozen stallion, and both he and Bunny flinched as they braced themselves for the Nightmare to suddenly reawaken. When nothing came, they relaxed.

"Huh, nice shot, mate," Bunny finally said as he threw a quick smirk at Jack before observing the area around him trying to see if he could find the source of the Nightmare's sudden appearance.

"Thanks, but…where did it come from?" Jack asked as he studied the sandy stallion.

"Perhaps, I can help you figure that one out," an all-too familiar voice suddenly said from behind causing both Jack and Bunny to stiffen.

Both Guardians turned around just in time to see the Nightmare King appear from the shadows of the nearby trees. Pitch smirked evilly as he watched the green and blue eyes widen in shock and fear. However, the looks of shock and fear quickly dissolved into hard glares as they shifted into defensive stances preparing their respective weapons for battle, which made Pitch chuckle under his breath. If everything went according to plan, there wouldn't be much of a fight.

"Pitch…" Bunny said through clenched teeth.

"What are you doing here?" Jack asked squinting at the Boogeyman as his staff began to glow. "How did you—?"

"—get out of my confounded prison?" Pitch finished. He chuckled as he shook his head. "Oh, Jack, it's quite easy to figure out really. My strength finally came back, and," he spread his arms out gesturing to the nightmares emerging behind him, "I was able to call in a few favors."

The Guardian of Fun's face fell once again as he watched the one…two…three…10 nightmares behind the battle between him, Sandy, Pitch, and his nightmares on the day before Easter Sunday. He and Sandy separated from North, Tooth, and Bunny only to be outnumbered by Pitch and the Nightmares. The others eventually did catch up to them, but the battle still ended with Sandy getting killed by Pitch. The boy quickly glared at their enemy again. There was no way he was going to let history repeat itself.

"What do you want, Pitch?" the boy finally asked.

"What I've wanted for the past few months," Pitch replied as his smirk turned into a glare, "you, Jack. I want you to return as my Nightmare Prince!"

"Sorry, you drongo," Bunny quickly said before Jack could even respond, "but that is _not_ going to happen. If you want him, you're going to have to go through me."

Pitch chuckled evilly watching Bunny standing defensively in front of Jack with his boomerangs ready. The Guardians of Fun and Hope were falling right into his trap, and he loved every minute of it. He took a deep breath letting the fear of both Guardians seep in, and it was feeling marvelous. Oh, how he missed it!

"Oh, look at the fluffy rabbit," the Boogeyman said mockingly, "trying to defend the newest Guardian. Isn't that just adorable? If I recall correctly, there was one other time you tried that, and it didn't turn out very well for you, did it?"

Bunny widened his eyes briefly before his face returned to a hardened glare. He was so focused on their enemy that he didn't realize that Jack had a very confused look on his face as he looked at Pitch and the Pooka.

"Oh, I'm going to make you regret saying that," Bunny growled.

Pitch smirked at the Pooka before giving a simple, "Boo!"

Within seconds, the Nightmares surged forward toward the two Guardians ready for battle.

"You take five!" Bunny shouted to Jack. "I'll take five!"

"Got it!" Jack shouted as he took off into the air.

The battle began! Bunny flung his boomerangs and tossed a few egg bombs as Jack fired frost blasts from his staff. They managed to fend off their respective five Nightmares, but as soon as they did just that, more kept coming, especially those who weren't frozen by Jack. Pitch made absolute sure that the Nightmares could reconstruct themselves once they were decimated, and Bunny and Jack were beginning to notice.

"We can't keep this up forever!" Jack said as he and Bunny stood back to back in the clearing watching the Nightmares circling them. "They just keep popping up out of nowhere!"

"Maybe not forever!" Bunny shouted back. "But long enough for North to notice something when we don't show up for the meeting on time!"

"And that's exactly what I hope for," the Boogeyman said as he watched the two Guardians resuming the battle with the Nightmares. For a moment, he concentrated solely on Jack as he continued to fire frost blasts from his staff at his beautiful stallions.

The boy was so distracted as he fought the Nightmares that he failed to notice one particular sandy horse behind him ready to attack.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Haha! First chapter, and I already have a cliffhanger! Well, that's Chapter 1, guys! I hope you all enjoyed it! Don't forget to leave a review! Thanks again, guys!


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Hello, hello, readers! I have returned with CHAPTER 2 of _We're Your Family Too!_ I'm sorry this took long to update. School and life have been demanding lately. Plus, I'm writing my RTTE fanfic too, so updates will probably take longer than I promised. But don't worry, there is no story left behind! I will do what I can to make sure every story is completed. Also…before we get to the story…REVIEW REPLIES!

 **To This Day77: Glad you love it! Hope you like what's next!**

 **Guest: YAY! Thank you so much! Hope you continue to enjoy it!**

 **NorthernLight: Interesting prediction! We shall see! Lol**

 **NorthernMage: Yeah, I'm sorry about taking so long to get it up, but please bear with me. I'm doing the best I can. I promise! Well, you'll have to wait and see.**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to** _ **Rise of the Guardians**_ **.**

* * *

Chapter 2

Bunny breathed heavily as he continued to fight the Nightmares flinging his boomerangs and throwing his egg bombs. He slowly began to lose track regarding how many he attacked, but the Guardian of Hope refused to give up. He needed to protect the Guardian of Fun. He couldn't let Pitch take Jack away from the Guardians again, not after all the progress they had been making in welcoming the boy into their group. He threw one last egg bomb at another Nightmare before noticing something out of the corner of his eye. He saw yet another Nightmare slowly creeping behind him and Jack, but he quickly noticed that the sandy stallion wasn't aiming for him. It was sneaking up on…

"Jack, look—" Bunny tried to shout to the boy. However, by the time he did, it was too late.

The black Nightmare crashed into Jack causing him to bang into a nearby tree and to fall to the ground unconscious. As soon as he saw the boy go down, the Pooka ran over to him to check him for injuries.

"Jack!" Bunny shouted as he overlooked the boy and shook the boy to awaken him. "Jack! Come on, ya drongo, wake up! JACK!"

However, the Pooka's calls for the boy to wake up came just a second too late as something grabbed him from behind by the arms. It was two of Pitch's nightmares biting down on his arms holding him back from the winter teen. Bunny then ceased struggling for a moment when he also noticed that the remaining Nightmares suddenly came to a standstill. The Guardian of Hope furrowed his eyebrows together as he was being held captive by two of them. Why did they stop? Before he could say or do anything, he froze when he noticed Pitch…walking over to Jack, who was already to stir. As soon as he noticed the Nightmare King, he struggled yet again trying to pry himself free of the two Nightmares. He had to stop Pitch! He couldn't let Pitch turn Jack back into the Nightmare Prince!

"PITCH!" Bunny shouted at the top of his lungs. "I swear on Manny himself, if you touch one hair on that kid's head, I'm gonna—"

"Shh, Rabbit," the Nightmare King said smirking at Bunny. "We don't want to wake him up, do we? Let's just leave quickly, and I won't be forced to hurt the boy."

However, because Pitch turned his back on the unconscious Guardian, he failed to see that Jack was already beginning to stir. Thankfully, though, Bunny _did_ notice and glared at Pitch realizing what he needed to do. He had to keep the Boogeyman busy for as long as he could…long enough for the Guardian of Fun to attack him from behind.

"What are you talking about, ya ratbag?" the Pookan Guardian asked. "You just said you wanted Jack to be your slave again. Now you're just going to leave him there…when you have the perfect opportunity? What gives? What are you up to?"

Pitch couldn't help but chuckle at the Pooka's question. Despite his glare and brash attitude, he could still feel small traces of fear running through the 6'1" Guardian, but it was overwhelmed by something…something else. The Boogeyman wasn't too sure as to what it was, but he was curious. It wasn't fear from Jack, but it was still very tempting to say the least.

"Oh, don't worry," he finally said. "Once we get back to my lair, everything will fall into—AHH!" He was suddenly interrupted when a blast of frost suddenly knocked him to the ground face first. Once he was down, he quickly turned around glaring only to see that the Guardian of Fun had already come out of his unconscious state and was pointing his staff straight at the Nightmare King.

"Jeez, Pitch," Jack said as he glared daggers at his worst enemy, "you must be really afraid of me if you just go around knocking me out."

"Oh, I'm not afraid of you, Jack," said Pitch. "You're nothing but a thorn in my side!" With that, the Nightmare King conjured up some black sand and flung it at the Guardian of Fun.

However, said Guardian of Fun managed to dodge it and fired yet another frost blast from the staff right at Pitch, but the Boogeyman was just as quick and jumped out of the way only to return the favor by firing back. Unfortunately, Jack wasn't so quick with this one, so the Nightmare sand hit him in the chest causing him to go flying backwards right into a tree and face first onto the ground unconsciousness once again.

"Jack!" Bunny shouted as he struggled against the Nightmares holding him. "Jack, are you okay? Talk to me!" No answer came from the boy. "Jack!" No answer came once again.

"Quickly, take the rabbit back to my lair!" Pitch shouted to the black sand horses. '

The Nightmares obeyed their Master's command and within seconds dragged the struggling and screaming Pooka back into the shadows, and Pitch quickly followed them leaving the unconscious Guardian behind in the grass.

* * *

The Guardian of Wonder paced back and forth in front of the Globe of Belief for what felt like an eternity. Tooth and Sandy had arrived two hours ago. That was when Jack was supposed to come back with Bunny so that they could start their meeting, but that didn't happen. Jack and Bunny never showed up, and the meeting never began. The Guardians of Wonder, Memories, and Dreams just stayed where they were next to the Globe waiting for the Guardians of Fun and Hope. At first, North, Tooth, and Sandy assumed that Jack and Bunny were just having so much fun in the Warren like always that they simply lost track of time, but as time went on, the three Guardians became more and more worried for their fellow Guardians, especially the leader of the Guardians himself.

Ever since Jack became a Guardian, Nicholas St. North had come to love the boy as an adoptive son just as Jack had come to love him as an adoptive father. So, it was no wonder that the Guardian of Wonder was about ready to pull his hair out trying to figure out where his adoptive son and fellow Guardian were and why they were so late.

"I don't like this," Tooth finally said aloud. "It's not like them to be so late."

"Something's wrong," North said as he continued to pace. "I can feel it," he moved his hands to his stomach, "in my belly."

Sandy suddenly floated up to North stopping him from pacing and creating sandy images of the three of them standing there with an "X" through it and a magnifying glass over Jack and Bunny.

"Sandy's right!" Tooth said firmly. "We can't just stand here any longer! We have to find them!"

"I agree!" North replied. He then turned to Phil. "Phil, get one of my snow globes!" As soon as Phil ran out of the room, North turned back to his fellow Guardians. "Let's stop by the Warren first. That's where Jack was heading this morning."

Tooth and Sandy eagerly nodded in reply just as Phil came back with another one of North's snow globes. North gratefully took the small orb, whispered their intended location into it, and threw it to the ground creating a large, colorful portal for the three of the five Guardians. Without much hesitation, North jumped through the portal followed by Tooth and Sandy before the portal disappeared behind them.

* * *

The silence of the Warren was suddenly interrupted when North's portal appeared allowing the Guardians to emerge. As soon as North, Tooth, and Sandy emerged from the portal, they surveyed the center of the Warren. All seemed quiet, but something still didn't feel right. There were hardly any of the eggs running around, and the golems were nowhere to be found.

"It's quiet…too quiet," Tooth said nervously with her wings fluttering faster and faster by the second.

"Yes…this is very unsettling," North said as he surveyed the area. "Perhaps, we could…" He was suddenly interrupted by the sound of huge feet approaching them. The Guardian of Wonder looked, and sure enough, it was one of Bunny's egg golems. North studied how panicked and jumpy the golem looked. "What is it?"

Instead of verbally answering, the golem suddenly ran in the opposite direction, but thankfully, North quickly understood what it tried to tell him. "Come!" he said to Tooth and Sandy. "Follow the golem! Maybe it will take us to Jack and Bunny!"

"Oh, I hope they're all right," Tooth said before flying after North with Sandy beside her.

Tooth and Sandy followed their leader and the egg golem to one of the deeper areas of the Warren in hopes to find a certain winter teen and Pooka. Within minutes, the golem led the three veteran Guardians to a clearing among the trees, and as soon as they came into the clearing, all three of them gasped when they saw…

"Jack!" North and Tooth shouted in unison as they all ran over to the boy lying down face first in the grass.

The Guardian of Wonder felt his heart pound as he ran over to his unconscious adoptive son and got down on his knees while Tooth and Sandy gathered around him. North quickly picked up Jack in his arms to get a better look at the Guardian of Fun. The boy didn't seem to be badly injured, but North did notice that he had a small bump on the back of his head. He had to have bumped his head on something hard knocking him unconscious.

Tooth scooted up closer to North and Jack and running a small hand through the boy's white hair. She didn't need to ask if he was breathing as she saw his chest rising and falling, but that still wasn't enough to shake the worry she was feeling at the moment, and from the looks of it…North felt the same. "Jack...?" she finally said.

No answer.

"Jack…?" North repeated hopefully. When no answer came again, he tried again. "Wake up, son."

After a few agonizing minutes, Jack's eyes slowly opened allowing North, Tooth, and Sandy to see his blue eyes allowing them to internally sigh in relief. However, when he did, he could only see blurred figures and a mixture of colors above him. He blinked a few times allowing his sight to come back into focus, and when he did, he looked up at the worried faces of North, Tooth, and Sandy. The boy furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion. Wasn't he just with Bunny?

"North…Tooth…Sandy…what are you guys doing here?" he asked in a hoarse whisper.

Tooth and North looked at each other quickly and then back at Jack who was still in North's arms.

"Don't you remember?" Tooth asked with worry in her voice. "We were supposed to have a meeting today, and you and Bunny never showed up. We knew you were here with him today, and so we came looking for you guys."

Jack quickly remembered what Tooth was talking about. The Guardians were having a meeting today, and Jack and Bunny agreed to spend some time together for a few hours before they were to return to the Pole to meet the others. It looked like they were a tad late based on the worried looks on North, Tooth, and Sandy's faces.

"Oh, that's right," Jack said sitting up in North's arms and rubbing his head. "Well, Bunny and I were—" he suddenly gasped when everything came back to him. Pitch…the Nightmares… "Oh no, Bunny! Wh—Where's Bunny?! Did you see him?!"

All three of the four veteran Guardians furrowed their eyebrows together in confusion. How could Jack not know where Bunny was when they were in the Pooka's Warren? Then again, now that he mentioned it, why was it that they only found Jack…without Bunny?

"What?" Tooth asked the boy. "N-No, we just saw you lying here." She then flew up and looked around the clearing for any signs of their Pookan friend. "Bunny? Bunny, where are you?"

She, North, Sandy, and Jack waited in silence to see if they could hear or see any signs of the 6'1" Guardian of Hope, and so far…there was nothing. No Australian accented voice…no Pooka jumping out of the bushes to greet them or to see if Jack was okay after what happened. Nothing…

Jack widened his blue eyes in absolute fear and even horror. If they didn't see Bunny…and Bunny wasn't answering Tooth's calls, then that meant… "Aw, man…w-we got to find him!" he cried as he tried to stand up. "We got to—" He was about to stand up when North kept him from doing so gently pulling the winter teen back into his lap.

"Jack, calm down," North said in a gentle tone. He smiled as Jack took a few deep breaths. "Good boy. Now, calmly, please tell us what happened."

"Okay, well," Jack began thinking back at the scene that unfolded recently, "Bunny and I were playing for a bit when…Pitch somehow escaped from Sandy's prison and attacked us, and he wasn't alone this time. He called a few of those Nightmares to help him." The Guardian of Fun watched the blue, amethyst, and golden eyes of the Guardians of Wonder, Memories, and Dreams widen at the mention of Pitch's sandy minions, and Jack didn't blame them for being worried. Pitch said so himself that he regained strength, and if he regained enough strength to summon those monster horses, then…they had a very big problem on their hands.

Nevertheless, he continued, "Pitch said that he wanted me to return as his Nightmare Prince, but before I could say something, Bunny defended me against the guy." Jack couldn't help but notice North tensing at the mention of the title Pitch gave his boy when he was under his warped influence. "Then the Nightmares suddenly attacked us. We were doing okay holding them off, but then they just started going after Bunny."

Sandy gave a very confused look as he formed a question mark above his head.

Jack shrugged in reply. "I have no idea, Sandy," he said. "One minute Pitch was set on turning me again but commands his Nightmares to grab Bunny and to knock me out. I woke up in time to try to save him, but I was knocked out again." Jack looked down in despair feeling as though he failed the Guardians. He couldn't save Bunny from being kidnapped not even after Bunny did everything he could to protect him. "They must've taken him while I was unconscious."

"But why would he take Bunny when he said that he was coming after you?" Tooth asked raising an eyebrow.

"I…I don't know…" Jack replied sadly still not looking up at the Guardians until he finally looked up at his adoptive father… "North, I'm really sorry…I should've…"

North started at his adoptive son for a few seconds clearly not understanding why Jack felt the need to apologize, but he quickly hugged the boy close. "No, Jack," he began, "it's alright. It's alright. You have nothing to apologize for. Pitch ambushed you two." He hugged Jack tighter as the thought of Jack almost being taken by Pitch again sent shivers up his spine. "I'm just glad that he didn't take you as well. I can't bear the idea of losing you again to Pitch." He then felt himself fill up with determination at the thought of Bunny now being in Pitch's clutches. There was no need to explain what needed to happen next, so he pulled away to look at Jack, Tooth, and Sandy. "Now, we can just focus on getting Bunny back, and we shall not rest until we do."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Well, that's Chapter 2, boys and girls! Hope you all liked it! Be on the look out for CHAPTER 3! And don't forget to leave a review please! Thanks again you guys!


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** Hello, I'm back! And I have CHAPTER 3 with me! I am so so so sorry this took even longer to upload. There was major crunch time at school plus family time at Easter, and more crunch time at school, but never fear, I am here now with the latest chapter. However, before we do that, REVIEW REPLIES!

 **Justrockzyxxx: YAY! I'm so glad you're loving it! I hope you continue to love it!**

 **NorthernMage: Yeah, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to shift focus from Jack and North to Bunny as he has an interesting backstory (at least in the books). But don't worry, the other Guardians won't take too much of a backseat in this one! Hope you like the rest of it!**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to** _ **Rise of the Guardians**_ **!**

* * *

Chapter 3

It was amazing at how fast Pitch and his Nightmares could get from place to place by traveling amongst the shadows, especially when they were basically dragging a 6'1" Pookan warrior with them. The last time Pitch did this to the Guardians, Pitch did something that caused the Guardians to fall asleep, so they never got to experience what it was like to land on the stone cold floor of Pitch's lair when you were wide awake and didn't have the same mode of transportation as the Boogeyman. Well, Bunny could officially state that it wasn't the greatest experience in the world as he felt the Nightmares release him only to be thrown to the floor with brute force. The Guardian of Hope yelped in pain as he landed on his stomach, but he refused to let Pitch see that. So, he immediately glared up at the Nightmare King, who was looking down on him smirking.

"So sorry for the rough ride, rabbit," Pitch said coolly. "You know how riled up they can get."

Bunny smirked in return so he propped himself on his hands and knees. "Hah, you should know since you were dragged down here yourself once, Pitch," he said.

Pitch merely chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Oh, look," he said to one of his Nightmares, "the fluffy little bunny is acting tough. Isn't that just cute?"

The Guardian of Hope suddenly glared up at the Boogeyman. "Who are you calling a bunny, ya ratbag?!" he shouted. He tried to lunge at Pitch to attack him only to be forced to the ground by two of the Nightmares. Once again, Bunny refused to give Pitch the satisfaction of seeing him in pain from the impact and from the sandy hooves digging into his back. "If you think that you're going to trick Jack into coming down here to save me, you're dead wrong. North, Tooth, and Sandy will do whatever they can to make sure that kid will never become your Nightmare Prince again."

Bunny's words seemed to fall deaf on Pitch's ears as he smirked at him. He was more focused on the strange…air around the Pookan warrior. It was the same as the one he felt at the Warren, and as he predicted, he was correct in his theory that it wasn't coming from Jack. It _was_ coming from Bunny, but it felt strange and…new. It wasn't fear. No, he had been feeding off fear for years. He knew what it felt like to take in someone's fear, especially the Guardians. This was different, but whatever it was, it felt good. He could've sworn that he felt his strength slowly returning. What could be causing this? He had to find out, and he didn't plan on stopping until he did.

* * *

The Guardians practically ran out of the portal as it opened up near the lake in the town of Burgess, and neither of them even bothered to stop as they followed Jack to their intended destination: Pitch's lair. Being that Jack was the only one who once entered Pitch's lair without the help of the shadows, he led the way to the small hole that he was lured into about a couple months ago.

"It's this way!" Jack shouted over his shoulder to the other Guardians as they followed him through the forest surrounding the town of Burgess.

The Guardian of Fun had been so focused on finding the Guardian of Hope and saving him from the Nightmare King that the fact that he knew the way to Pitch's lair was only because he was lured there with deception and trickery didn't matter anymore. The Guardians and he had forgiven each other, and there was no point to feel bad about it anymore. Even though he still regretted it from time to time, the guilt always subsided when he remembered that they finally worked things out regarding the matter. The slate was wiped clean. There was no reason to look back on the difficult past again, especially when one of his fellow Guardians was possibly in grave danger.

Soon enough, the four Guardians came to a very familiar clearing in the forest causing Jack, North, Tooth, and Sandy to stop short as they found a very unsettling sight. The hole that was supposed to lead them to Pitch's lair…was gone. There was nothing but soil in the spot where Jack remembered seeing the old wooden bed.

"No…oh no, no, no, no," Jack said as he ran over to the middle of the clearing and got down on his knees to feel any sort of sign of something that might be an entrance. "It was right here I swear! This is where Pitch led me into his lair!"

North ran over to where his adoptive son was kneeling and looked over his shoulder seeing what the boy was referring to. It wasn't that he didn't believe Jack, but that he had a feeling as to what happened. "Ah, the hole must've been sealed when Pitch was forced back into his lair," he said with a glare.

"Maybe there's another entrance that we haven't found yet," Tooth suggested.

"Even if there was," North began, "we don't have enough time to go around the world just to find a way to get into the lair. We have no choice," he took out another snow globe, "but to return to the Pole. We can regroup there."

* * *

The business of the Pole was suddenly interrupted when another one of North's portals suddenly appeared in the workshop. The Guardians of Wonder, Memories, Dreams, and Fun burst out of the portal and went immediately went to the Globe of Belief.

"Pitch had to have used the shadows to get from the Warren to his lair," Jack exclaimed to North.

"If he did, then that will make it harder to find him and Bunny," said North. "We will have no way of getting to them, especially when the only entrance we know of was completely sealed."

"And there's no way we can draw them out," Tooth interjected. "If what we experienced when Pitch brainwashed Jack is anything to go by, there is no way we will have easy access to Bunny."

Sandy nodded in agreement with Tooth. If there was one thing to remember about the Boogeyman, it was that he would do anything in his power to get what he wanted, and once he had what he was seeking, there was no way he was going to let it go so easily. They might not have understood why Pitch kidnapped Bunny in the first place, but they were definitely going to be in for quite a fight to get him back.

"We cannot give up," North said. "We must find a way to rescue Bunny."

* * *

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Bunny snarled at the Boogeyman.

"Because there's something about you that I just can't understand," Pitch replied. "The other Guardians seem to fear me deep down inside themselves, even North, especially when I brainwashed Jack, but you, Bunny…I can't seem to sense any within you."

"Simple, ya ratbag. I'm not afraid of you," Bunny retorted. He tried to stand his guard as best as he could, but…at the same time it was difficult to hide his confusion. Why was Pitch so concerned with being feared by him? Then again, that was probably a stupid question. Of course, Pitch was so concerned with not being feared. He was the Boogeyman for crying out loud. He wanted to be feared.

"But you used to be," Pitch sneered. "I seem to remember a time when you froze once you heard my voice…when the nightmares of that day haunted you for months on end. Tell me…what's so different now?"

Bunny growled even more at the Nightmare King standing over him, he knew exactly what Pitch was implying. That awful day…so long ago…the very day he had that nightmare about just this morning… Not long after that day, he promised himself that he would spread hope to all of Pitch's victims and to never let Pitch have the satisfaction of seeing him afraid ever again.

"Are you kidding me?" Bunny finally snarled. "I'm over it, Pitch! You don't scare me…not anymore! There's nothing you can do to make me fear you! You hear me?! NOTHING! If that's the only reason you brought me down here, then you might as well just let me go right now because you've already lost this fight!"

* * *

"What if we got Manny to help us?" Tooth suggested quickly as her wings fluttered even faster.

"No, we cannot wait that long," North quickly said before either Jack or Sandy could get excited over Tooth's suggestion. "It will not be full moon tonight, so he won't even be able to communicate with us."

Sandy popped up from where he sat creating a sandy image of the four of them following Pitch to an arrow that read "Lair." North stroked his chin thoughtfully as he tried to decipher Sandy's suggestion.

"Well, that could work, Sandy," he finally said, "but we said not too long ago there was no way Pitch will leave Bunny unattended to fight us. It would be impossible to draw him out."

As he sat on his staff stroking his chin as well, Jack thought long and hard about what Sandy and North just said. It was a good idea, but right now, it seemed like it was their only option since they had no other way to access tunnels without Bunny and no entrance to Pitch's underground lair. They would have to figure out a way to draw the Boogeyman out and to follow him to his lair…unless…they didn't have to worry about drawing Pitch himself out.

"Wait, North! I think Sandy might have something," the Guardian of Fun said excitedly.

All three of the four veteran Guardians looked up at the newest one in curiosity.

"What do you mean, son?" North asked raising the one of his bushy eyebrows as he watched Jack descend from his staff.

"We may not be able to get Pitch to leave his lair," Jack replied smirking, "but those Nightmares might be able to help us."

"How?" Tooth asked.

"From what I gathered when we first fought Pitch together, those Nightmare horses are like his centuries…or minions…or whatever you call it…" Jack began. "While he uses them to fight, he probably also uses them to track down any child who's experiencing fear. Remember how riled up that one got at Tooth's palace when she smelled our fear?"

Tooth gasped when she finally understood Jack's point. "They smell fear," she said excitedly. "They probably travel to wherever they sense someone's fear and report it to Pitch."

North and Sandy furrowed their eyebrows together as they thought about what the Guardians of Fun and Memories were saying. Then it finally clicked with them. Both the Guardians of Wonder and Dreams smiled at Jack.

"So, if we find one of these nightmares," North began.

"We find Pitch's lair," Jack finished.

North let out a booming laugh as he wrapped an arm around his adoptive son. "Brilliant, my boy!" he said joyfully. "Just brilliant!"

"The only thing is…" Tooth suddenly said, "we'll have to find somewhere to trap them when it's night already. With the Earth's rotation and the time zones, we'll be waiting quite a while in Burgess, so we'll need to pick some place in Europe or Asia."

"Then we will," North said with great determination in his voice. "Bunny is counting on us, whether he knows it or not. There is no telling what Pitch may be doing to him right now."

* * *

Bunny was just as clueless as his fellow Guardians in trying to figure out exactly what Pitch wanted with him. One minute Pitch was standing over him, taunting him, and even asking him why he wasn't afraid of him, and the next minute…they were fighting. That didn't stop him from giving up in this battle against the Boogeyman. The Pookan warrior fought back with all his might throwing his boomerangs and his egg bombs at Pitch as he in return flung his nightmare sand right back at him.

"You don't know when to quit, do you?!" Pitch shouted at the Pooka as he flung some more of his nightmare sand at him.

"Neither do you!" Bunny shouted back. "You've tried to defeat us one too many times now! When will you accept that you can never bring down the Guardians?!" Although in the back of his mind, he knew that it was another pointless question to ask the Boogeyman. He fed off fear. He _thrived_ on fear, and of course, he, North, Tooth, Sandy, and now Jack stood in his way. It was the same battle every time, and it would never change. That fact alone made Bunny boil up in his emotions. He remembered how shocked and confused Jack looked the month before when he and their fellow Guardians basically explained to him that there was no true way to defeat Pitch for good. Because of who he was and what he was capable of, he could only merely be kept at bay for a time before regaining strength. As satisfying as it was defeating Pitch…there would probably never come a day when he would be gone forever.

"Fear exists everywhere, Bunny!" the Boogeyman suddenly shouted as he flung more of his black sand at Bunny hitting him in the chest causing him to go flying backwards into a wall. "As long as fear exists, I will always be there to embrace it. Oh, I remember the day I came to that Pookan Island of yours…"

Bunny was about to throw his boomerangs at the Boogeyman yet again when he stopped mention that awful…awful day on his island. He hardened his glare at the Nightmare King. Did he really just go there?

Pitch smirked as he felt a surge of…whatever it was from Bunny once again, and he knew exactly what caused it…the mere mention of his first encounter with the Guardian of Hope. He conjured up some more of his trusty nightmare sand and prepared to fire again. "I see you remember it as well," he said. "Oh, wasn't it lovely, rabbit? Watching your entire race perish…all the fear and dread…I had never felt more powerful. Of course, I can only imagine how that made you feel."

"You…know… _NOTHING_ …about how I felt that day," Bunny said. His body was shaking, not from the cold, but from rage…rage that he had kept inside for a long…long time. He gritted his teeth. His fur bristled to the point where he resembled a wild animal. "You took everything away from me that day! My home…my family…my friends…they were all destroyed right in front of me…because of YOU! You are nothing but a menace, Pitch! I may have feared you, but not anymore! I hate you! I hate you with everything I have, and I will stop at nothing until I can be sure that you never cause pain and suffering to anyone else ever… _ **AGAIN!"**_ With that, he lunged at the Boogeyman.

Before Bunny could even touch him, Pitch fired his nightmare sand at the Guardian of Hope and watched as the sand hit Bunny square in the chest causing him to fly backwards into the wall behind him and onto the floor unconscious. As Bunny laid on the stone cold floor lifeless with the Nightmares staring at him, Pitch stood over his prisoner proud of himself for figuring out what had been taunting him all day. Of course, Bunny didn't fear him, especially when he was one of the powerful Guardians, but something grew from that fear and replaced it with something else. All that pain, suffering, and grief eventually grew into…hatred. Fear eventually became hatred, and it was enough to make Pitch strong just as fear did if not more. It was clear as to what he had to do now. He held up his hand over Bunny directing that hatred toward him, and he watched as green sand formed around his hand…the green sand…of hate.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** WHOO! ANOTHER CHAPTER COMPLETED! So yeah lots happened here, but don't worry! You'll get more of Pitch and Bunny's backstory later! For now, I leave you with a cliffhanger! MWAHAHAHA! Lol! Thanks for sticking with me, guys! I know I haven't been updating as frequently as I did with Believe It, but I promise this story will be completed! Anyway, stay tuned for CHAPTER 4! And don't forget to leave a review, please! I really enjoy reading those! Thanks again, guys!


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** Hey there, lovely readers! I have returned with (drumroll please)…CHAPTER 4! Once again, I apologize for being so late. School has been more demanding with summer classes and such, but no worries! I am dedicated to getting these stories finished. Anyway, here are the REVIEW REPLIES!

 **Northern Mage: Lol! I think he's liking the green color a lot better, but we shall see!**

 **FrostedDragonHeart: AHH! OMG! Thank you so so much for your kind words! Yes, that's exactly what I was aiming for! You really nailed it to a T, my friend! The things you're afraid of often become things you hate! And since Pitch and Bunny seem to have had a history, it would make sense that things turned out this way between them. I'm so glad you love this and hope you continue to love it!**

 **Peerainbowdog: Thank you so so much! Hope you like what's coming next!**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to** _ **Rise of the Guardians**_ **.**

* * *

Chapter 4

It wasn't easy, but North, Tooth, Sandy, and Jack eventually narrowed many cities in Europe and Asia down to one. The one they decided to focus on was one where they were to set up their trap for one of Pitch's nightmare stallions. They decided to pick one based on where the least number of Tooth's fairies were and where there were very little signs of Sandy's dream sand to avoid potentially being spotted by the Nightmares. As much as they would've loved to have Bunny and his tunnels to get to the city and to avoid alerting Pitch's minions, they were forced to use Sandy's cloud as a mode of transportation, instead of the sleigh, to keep the element of surprise.

The Guardians of Wonder, Memories, Dreams, and Fun all gathered on one roof to keep an eye on a sleeping child that could be seen from across the street in a small house. It was pretty clear that the four out of the five Guardians hated the idea of using an innocent child as bait to get to Pitch, but there seemed to be no other alternative at the moment. They needed a way to get to their fellow Guardian and best friend, and that was what they were going to do.

They each peaked over the top of the roof making sure not to be spotted by the child or any Nightmare stallions.

"I hope this works," Tooth said aloud.

"It will, Tooth," North replied. "We just need to be patient."

"Tooth, you sure your fairies don't need to stop here tonight?" Jack asked.

"Positive," the Tooth Fairy replied. "They normally wait for me to give them a specific location to go to, so they won't come here unless I tell them otherwise. Plus, Baby Tooth is running things right now, so she will make sure no one comes here."

"Excellent," North and Jack said in unison as Sandy gave Tooth a thumbs-up.

With that said, they continued to keep vigil over the sleeping child across the street. Sandy readied his golden dream sand. Jack readied his staff. North readied his swords, and Tooth readied her fists and wings. No more words were spoken amongst the Guardians as they waited for one of their enemy's faithful minions to appear. About two hours finally passed as the Guardians continued to wait in the dark of the night…until Sandy finally perked up alerting North, Tooth, and Jack.

"What is it, Sandy?" North asked as he watched his silent friend suddenly tensed up.

"You see something?" Tooth asked furrowing her eyebrows together in concern.

Sandy only turned to fellow comrades with a stern look on his face as he created a sandy image of a horse above his head, and it didn't take long for North, Tooth, and Jack to realize what he was referring to. They quickly turned to scope out the house the child was still sleeping in looking for any signs of the Nightmare stallion. It was only a few moments before they heard something flying…or running in the dark sky above them.

"I heard something," Jack said studying the sky above them, "but I can't see anything. It's too dark."

"It's because of the new moon," North said keeping his eyes on the child in front of them. "Just wait a little while longer, son."

Not long after North said that, a whinnying noise was heard causing the four out of the five Guardians to tense up as they continued to wait for Pitch's minion to take the bait. Soon enough, a black sandy horse appeared out of nowhere on the roof of the child's house. Sandy, being the Guardian of Dreams, was about to attack when Jack quietly placed a hand on his shoulder gently stopping him from going any further and shook his head silently telling him to wait. Sandy begrudgingly did as Jack asked and waited for the Nightmare Stallion to make its move. After scouting the area, the black horse rushed toward the open window ready to haunt the child's dreams.

"Sandy, NOW!" Jack shouted.

The little man obeyed the winter teen's command and flung his sandy whip at the horse from behind wrapping it around its neck. The nightmare, having obviously felt the golden noose, suddenly turned around and laid its golden demonic eyes on the four Guardians glaring at them. North, Tooth, Sandy, and Jack stared at it for a few seconds before giving innocent grins and small waves, but the Nightmare didn't take it too lightly as he burst out of the window flying off…and dragging Sandy away. Fortunately, the other Guardians managed to grab onto him as the Nightmare ran off with him, and as the Guardian of Dreams created a sand cloud for his friends, specifically North to stand on.

"This is fun yet terrifying at the same time!" Jack shouted over their screams and the roaring wind.

North managed to take a quick break from screaming as the Nightmare led them on a very bumpy ride over the city. "I agree, my boy!" he shouted. "Maybe we take Bunny's complaints about the sleigh into consideration next time!"

Jack and North briefly looked at each other and smirked, "Nah," they said in unison.

"Uh, guys," Tooth suddenly said as she kept a tight grip on North to avoid falling off, "I hate to interrupt the cute adoptive father/son dialogue, but we really should keep our eyes on the road here!"

Before either winter guardians could say anything, the Nightmare suddenly jerked forward and downward taking Sandy's sand cloud and all four Guardians with it.

"We must be getting close!" North shouted. "It looks like it's getting ready to land!"

"This is going to be a bumpy ride!" Jack shouted.

As soon as Jack made that statement, the Nightmare led them into a dark alley in the city, and the winter teen was able to feel the other Guardians tense up, as he did, all of them bracing themselves for the possibility of meeting the cold, hard ground. Instead, the Guardians followed the stallion into the dark shadows that would bring them to the lair of the Boogeyman. Jack silently realized that as they traveled through the shadows, he remembered what using the shadows as a mode of transportation was like when Pitch turned him into his Nightmare Prince, so he was somewhat used to it. His three fellow Guardians however weren't…mostly because they weren't conscious when it happened, so it caught them by surprise when they landed on the cold concrete floor of Pitch's lair as Sandy's cloud disintegrated underneath them.

"Everybody alright?" North asked as he struggled to prop himself on his elbows looking over at Tooth, Sandy, and Jack as they did the same trying to overcome the shock and the pain from the fall.

"I'm okay," Tooth groaned smiling at North.

"Me too," Jack said giving North and Tooth a thumbs-up while rubbing his head with his other hand.

Sandy smiled and gave his fellow Guardians a thumbs-up.

Once the leader of the Guardians was sure that his adoptive son and friends were alright, he looked around to survey their surroundings as they all stood back up. The nightmare they caught disappeared when they landed and possibly was going to report to Pitch what happened. Similar to the last time the Guardians were taken to the Boogeyman's lair, they noticed that they were in the main room below the cages and Pitch's Globe. This only made the Guardians of Wonder, Memories, Dreams, and Fun more nervous as they tried to stay together as best as they could, waiting for an ambush or any indication that Pitch was going to attack them.

"I don't like this, guys," Tooth said as they readied their respective weapons surveying the dark lair.

"I don't either," Jack replied. "Where are Pitch and Bunny?"

"Perhaps, I can help with that," a voice suddenly said causing all the Guardians to tense as they tried to search for the source of said voice. It didn't take long to figure out who was speaking to them.

"Show yourself, Pitch!" North shouted into the darkness.

"Oh, how rude of me," the Boogeyman said as he emerged from the darkness with a few of his Nightmares. "I should know better than to not be here to greet my guests." He chuckled. "Perhaps, that's where Jack learned such bad manners as my Nightmare Prince. What do you think, North?"

North glared at the Nightmare King as he took a step in front of Jack making sure that their enemy went nowhere near his adoptive son. Pitch currently held Bunny prisoner. He was not going to let him get away with taking Jack again. He couldn't lose his boy again.

"Enough, Pitch!" Tooth shouted before either North or Jack could respond. "Where's Bunny? What have you done to him?"

Sandy glared at Pitch while flashing sandy images of Pitch releasing the Guardian of Hope to them and then more images of Pitch shaking his head before the sandy images of him, North, Tooth, and Jack attack him.

"Now, now, Sandman," Pitch said coolly. "There's no need for the violent threats. If you want your pet rabbit back so badly, then here." He snapped his fingers, and on command, two of his Nightmare stallions flew up to one of the cages dangling above Pitch and the Guardians. One stallion opened the cage while another went in and pulled something or someone out of the cage and dropped the figure in front of the Guardians.

They stared at the figure for a few moments, and even in the darkness in Pitch Black's lair, it was easy to see who it was.

"Bunny!" Tooth shouted as she flew over to him.

Jack would've run over to him as well, but after what he experienced in this very lair in the past couple months…it was hard to trust anything that Pitch had to say. He could tell that North and Sandy felt the same way as they stood still as well trying to figure out if this even was the real Bunny, who'd they'd been friends with over the years. The Guardian of Fun was about to interrogate Pitch about what he had done to the Pooka after kidnapping him, but before he could, he saw something very strange. Pitch was still standing in his spot. He wasn't saying or doing anything to call for an attack or any kind of ambush. He was just watching them as Tooth tried to get Bunny to wake up. What was the Boogeyman up to? He was once again about to ask that when a groan from the Guardian of Hope stopped him.

"Guys, he's waking up!" Tooth said happily as Bunny slowly opened his eyes.

"T-Tooth…" Bunny moaned as he looked up at the Tooth Fairy through heavy eyes.

"It's alright, Bunny," Tooth quickly said gently. "We're going to get you out of here. Everything's going to be okay."

"Oh, now, isn't that just sweet," Pitch replied coolly before any more could be said between the Guardians. "Now, if you don't mind, can you please leave? You got what you wanted, didn't you?" He was about to turn to leave when…

"Wait, what?" North simply asked with the most confused look he could muster up on his bearded face.

"That's it?" Jack added as Sandy flashed a sandy image of a question mark and an exclamation point over his head. "You're just letting us go? You're not even going to try to fight back?" The winter teen suddenly stopped as he remembered what happened the last time Pitch seemed like he was surrendering…when he sent Jack to the Pole to trick the Guardians into walking into a trap. Something was not right, and they were going to find out what. The Guardian of Fun gave the Boogeyman a death glare and pointed his staff at him ready to fight. "What are you up to, Pitch?"

The Boogeyman widened his eyes and put his hand to his chest pretending to be shocked at Jack's accusations. "Why, Jack, that is just…" he said mockingly, "I mean, the one time I do something so generous, you think I'm up to something?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Jack retorted with sarcasm dripping in his voice. "I didn't realize that kidnapping for no reason was proper etiquette nowadays."

North couldn't help but snicker at his boy's quick answers, but he quickly composed himself as the glare returned to his bearded face as he readied his swords. "The boy is right, Pitch," he said. "You wouldn't kidnap one of us without reason. What are you up to?"

"You better tell us now," Jack demanded, "before we _make_ you tell us!"

"Guys, I know this doesn't look right," Tooth said from where she sat with Bunny on the floor, "but I really think this would be a good time to get Bunny out of here… _now_."

North, Jack, and Sandy broke their gaze on Pitch and looked down only to see that Tooth was right. Bunny looked like he was trying to stay awake and didn't seem hurt at all, but they still needed to check and see if Pitch really did something to harm their friend in any way, shape, or form. North could only sigh as he watched Jack and Sandy kneel down on either side of Tooth as she continued to cradle Bunny close to her. There was no question about it. They needed to leave to make sure Bunny was okay.

"Fine, we'll leave," North finally said turning to Pitch glaring at him, "but mark my words, Pitch, we _will_ be back for you."

Pitch could only chuckle as he stepped backwards away from the Guardians and into the shadows. "I'm sure you will be," he said as he disappeared with his Nightmares leaving the Guardians completely alone in his lair.

"What do you think he meant by that?" Jack asked North suspiciously after a moment of silence.

"Mm…we'll have to figure it out later," North replied as he took Bunny from Tooth and held him in one arm as he reached into a pocket and pulled out a snow globe. "Let's get back to the Pole and make sure that Bunny's okay."

With that, after the Guardian of Wonder whispered their next destination and created a portal, the Guardians disappeared into the colorful vortex before it faded away completely unaware that Pitch was still watching them from the darkness of the shadows.

"If only you knew what was coming for you, Guardians," he said as he played with the green sand in his hand…the best creation he's come up with.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Dun…dun….DUNNNNNNN! Hmm…what is Pitch up to? Well, that was CHAPTER 4 for you, boys and girls! Also, the city that the Guardians choose in the beginning is up to interpretation. You can picture just about any city you think they would've chosen. Stay tuned for CHAPTER 5! Hopefully, I can get it out faster this time… Anyway, please keep the reviews coming, guys! See you in the next chapter!


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:** Hello, readers! I'm back with Chapter 5! Sorry, this took a while! I was going through some writer's block and summer was pretty busy! School also started up again, so updates might still take a while. But never fear! I will make sure this story and my HTTYD fanfic are both completed! So without further ado, REVIEW REPLIES!

 **NorthernMage: No worries! I'm glad you're sticking around to read this! Anyway, yes, I agree! It would be smart to remember where the entrance was!**

 **Survivor: Lol! It's funny you say that because I do kind of ship Tooth and North, and I do like to drop hints that they might be in love. So I'm just leaving it up to the readers to decide if they are or not. If you want them to be in love, it's totally up to you and how you interpret it! As for your second question, yes, but he tends to try to hide it from the others, especially Jack so that he doesn't worry too much.**

 **Guest:** ***bows* Thank you! Thank you! I'm really glad you're liking this story! Hope you like what's next!**

 **FrostedDragonHeart: OMG! Thank you so so much for your kind words! I hope you like what comes next! Lol, I'm glad you like that! It gives you some cute father/son moment with Jack and North and a little comedy at the same time! XD**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to** _ **Rise of the Guardians**_ **.**

* * *

Chapter 5

Darkness surrounded Bunny's unconsciousness. He tried to wake up, but he was too tired and sore to even try. He would never admit it, but it scared him. He wasn't sure what was going on…if he was dead or…just really beaten. Why did he feel like that? He couldn't even put up a fight when it felt like someone grabbed him by the tail and dropped him. Hitting the cold hard ground was the last thing he wanted as that made his sore body writhe in more pain. However, there was some relief when he began to hear voices…familiar voices. He tried to wake up to see who it was, but he still felt weak.

" _Guys, he's waking up…"_

He knew that voice. "T-Tooth…"

" _It's alright, Bunny. We're going to get you out of here. Everything's going to be okay."_

" _Oh, now, isn't that just sweet."_ That was Pitch. _"Now, if you don't mind, can you please leave? You got what you wanted, didn't you?"_

" _Wait, what?"_ North. He recognized that accent anywhere.

" _What are you up to, Pitch?"_ Jack.

What was said next was a blur. The Pooka wasn't sure if it was because he blacked out…or he just couldn't focus on what was going on, but next thing he knew he felt himself being lifted onto someone's shoulder. It had to be North. Who else could lift him with such ease? He heard noises, and then within seconds, more noises… From what his sensitive hearing picked up, they were back in North's workshop.

* * *

The Pookan Guardian wasn't sure what happened after that, but the other Guardians witnessed it all. As soon as they stepped out of the portal into North's workshop, and within seconds, a few yetis gathered around them as North barked some orders to get Bunny into the infirmary to get checked for injuries. Thankfully, there was no resistance from the Guardian of Hope as he was still unconscious and wheeled into the infirmary on the gurney by the yetis while his fellow Guardians followed them. As soon as Bunny was wheeled into the infirmary, North did not hesitate to run in with the yetis while Jack, Tooth, and Sandy were urged to wait outside.

"But, North—" Jack tried to protest.

"Jack, please," North held up a hand before the boy could protest anymore, "I'll come to get you three when I know something." He quickly went inside and closed the door.

"Jack, come on, let's wait right here," Tooth said guiding Jack by the shoulders away from the doors.

The Guardian of Fun sighed in defeat as he joined the Guardians of Memories and Dreams across the hall. As he slid down against the wall onto the floor, Jack was immediately reminded of when North himself was rushed into the infirmary after Pitch shot him with one of his sand arrows…because of him. His adoptive father had tried to reassure him that it wasn't his fault, but a part of him still felt that it was. North took the shot to save him. Now, Bunny could be suffering the same fate. Pitch wanted him back as his Nightmare Prince, but for some reason kidnapped the Pookan Guardian instead. It seemed like nothing happened while Bunny was in the Boogeyman's clutches, but there was no way of knowing for sure…at least not until the yetis and North figure out what's wrong.

Sandy must've sensed Jack's distress because he gently placed a hand on the boy's knee. The winter teen could only smile at the sandman in thanks. There was no need for words between the two fellow Guardians, which made the wait a little more bearable.

* * *

About an hour passed before North finally emerged from behind the door going into the infirmary. All three of the Guardians looked up when he walked out waiting for what he was about to say. There was silence, but Jack finally broke it after a brief moment.

"H-How is he?" he asked. "I-Is he okay, North?"

North sighed and started to say something, but…suddenly stopped as his hands fell to his sides. "He's fine," he finally replied.

Tooth, Jack, and Sandy all furrowed their eyebrows together in confusion.

"W-What does that mean?" Tooth asked.

"I mean, he's fine," North replied. "There's nothing wrong with him aside for some bumps and bruises, but that's it. It's almost as if Pitch never captured him."

"You mean Pitch was actually telling the truth?" Jack asked flabbergasted.

"Possibly," North replied. "We checked him three times. Everything was where it should be physically. He kept going in and out of consciousness, but the yetis believe he was just bumped on the head too hard."

"That doesn't make any sense," Tooth interjected. "Why would Pitch attack Jack and Bunny, kidnap Bunny, and then give him back to us without a single injury?"

North's answer was muted as Sandy was in deep thought trying to process the situation…if one could even call it that now…at hand. This day was certainly turning out stranger and stranger for the Guardians. Why in the name of the Man in the Moon would Pitch kidnap Bunny only to give him back to the other Guardians willingly and without a single scratch? It wasn't that they weren't grateful that Bunny seemed like he was okay, but…what could Pitch possibly gain from what happened today?

That was when Sandy remembered the events that transpired with Jack not too long ago. The boy himself was kidnapped by Pitch and was not physically harmed, but the Boogeyman took advantage of him in the mental sense turning him into his Nightmare Prince. What if…? Alarmed at the theory, Sandy quickly grabbed an elf that was walking by and shook him ringing the bell on his red hat thus getting North, Tooth, and Jack's attention.

When he had his fellow Guardians' attention, he quickly flashed sandy images of the Boogeyman holding his arms out behind a sandy image of Jack and a question mark.

"Are you talking about when Pitch had me under his influence?" Jack asked.

Sandy nodded and then pointed to the door that led to the infirmary where Bunny was. Thankfully, North caught on quickly.

"You think Pitch did the same to Bunny?" the Guardian of Wonder asked widening his blue eyes.

"It's…not that far-fetched," Tooth interjected, "when you really think about it, but then again, he didn't look that different. Pitch changed Jack's appearance, so why wouldn't he do the same to Bunny?"

"Maybe he got a little more clever with it?" Jack suggested.

North stroked his bearded chin for a moment. He didn't notice anything different in Bunny's physical appearance. Surely, there would've been something noticeable, but then he thought about what Jack just said…that maybe Pitch was a little cleverer in his brainwashing tricks. However, surely, there would be at least something noticeable, but there was still one way to find out. Before he could say anything else, a yeti opened the door and garbled something to the leader of the Guardians.

"Ah, perfect, we'll be right in," North said happily.

"What did he say?" Jack asked eagerly.

"Bunny's awake," the Guardian of Wonder replied.

* * *

Bunny watched one of the yetis walk out of the room only to come back after garbling something outside. Next thing he knew, his fellow Guardians appeared at the door with smiles plastered on their faces. Relief washed over him when he saw them realizing that he was no longer in the Boogeyman's lair. He couldn't help but smile at them as well.

"Oi, mates," he finally said.

"Bunny!" Tooth said flying over to the Pookan warrior and hugging him tightly. "You're alright!"

"Welcome back, Cottontail!" Jack said as he ran over to the end of the bed. "We were worried about you!"

"How are you feeling, my friend?" North asked as he walked over behind Jack.

"Massive headache," Bunny said as he pulled away from Tooth's embrace and settled back into the bed he was lying in, "but I'll live. Thanks for getting me out of there, mates."

"Of course," North replied.

"Hey, we're like family, Bunny," Jack said casually. "We'll always come for you."

Bunny couldn't help but chuckle…somewhat nervously at Jack calling them a family. "Yeah, sure, Jack," he said.

Before the winter teen could even ask the Pookan warrior about his hesitation when he called them a family, Sandy quickly jumped in after the brief moment of silence and flashed an image of Pitch and Bunny, who looked like he was tied up. As much as North, Tooth, and Jack hated it, they knew that they needed to ask Bunny about what happened to him in the Nightmare King's lair.

"Yes, right, Sandy," North said before turning back to Bunny. "Bunny, what happened in Pitch's lair?"

"Yeah, he attacked us in your Warren with the intention of capturing me but captured you instead," Jack added, "but when we go to rescue you, he just hands you right back over to us without putting up much of a fight."

"Plus, North is telling us that you weren't even hurt, except for being knocked out," Tooth added.

"Yeah, what gives?" Jack asked. "Did he just want to have you over for a play date or something?"

"I…" Bunny began as she tried to process the questions his fellow Guardians were asking him. They were inquiring him about what happened between him and Pitch after he was kidnapped. "Ah…it's still a bit of blur. I remember him and those Nightmares bringing me to the lair. We fought for a bit…" He furrowed his eyebrows together trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together, but…nothing was coming back to him except for the fact that he was thrown against the wall falling into unconsciousness. "I tried to finish him off, but I don't remember much after that. I suppose I was knocked out and thrown in a cage because next thing I knew I heard you blokes and woke up in here."

"Well…I guess that explains the bumps and bruises," Tooth said stroking her chin, "and why you were barely conscious when we found you."

North furrowed his eyebrows together in thought as he tried to process what Bunny just told them. Tooth was right that the Pookan Guardian's story explained why he was unconscious, but it still didn't make sense as to why Pitch kidnapped Bunny in the first place. He was about to ask Bunny this when his adoptive son suddenly interjected.

"But, Cottontail," Jack began, "did Pitch even say why he kidnapped you to begin with?"

The Guardian of Hope thought back on his time in the Boogeyman's lair.

" _So sorry for the rough ride, rabbit. You know how riled up they can get."_

" _Why are you staring at me like that?"_

" _Because there's something about you that I just can't understand. The other Guardians seem to fear me deep down inside themselves…I can't seem to sense any within you."_

" _Simple, ya ratbag, I'm not afraid of you."_

" _But you used to be."_

" _There's nothing you can do to make me fear you! You hear me?! NOTHING!"_

The other Guardians watched in silence as Bunny mentally worked to put the pieces together to figure out what Pitch's motives possibly were. From what they could see, he was just as lost as they were, and that only made them more concerned and confused. After another moment of silence, Bunny finally looked up at them with an answer.

"Not really," he finally said. Then before any of the others could even try to press for more answers, he quickly hopped out of bed. "Look, mates, I really don't think it matters anyway. Pitch didn't do anything to me, and I'm not hurt in any way. Let's just drop it so that I can get back to my Warren, eh?"

The Guardian of Hope didn't bother to wait for them to agree and hopped out of the infirmary. North, Tooth, Sandy, and Jack all stared at each other for a few brief seconds completely dumbfounded, even the yetis simply looked at each other and shrugged. The four Guardians quickly ran out of the room after the fifth as he made his way to the Globe Room.

"Bunny, wait!" Jack shouted as they finally caught up to the Pooka. "The whole point of the infirmary was to stay there until you get better! You can't just leave!"

"Jack, there's no reason for me to stay," the Pooka retorted. "The bumps and bruises will heal on their own. Besides, I got to get back to my Warren."

"But…what about Pitch?" North asked.

Bunny could only sigh and roll his eyes. "Look, mates," he began, "I appreciate the concern, but there's not much else to talk or think about. We fought for a bit, he knocked me out, and then he threw me in that cage. I was knocked out the whole time after that until you blokes came in and grabbed me. That's it."

"Yeah, but," Jack interjected, "I mean…I know I haven't been a guardian for very long. It just…doesn't seem like his style."

"Frostbite, come on," Bunny retorted, "we're talking about the Boogeyman here. He probably just wanted to scare us…to let us know that he escaped."

"Yeah, but—" Tooth tried to say.

"Look, mates, I'm telling you," Bunny said cutting her off. "I'm fine. You got nothing to worry about."

North sighed in defeat as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Bunny was just too stubborn for his own good, and once he had his mind set on something, there was very little that anyone could do to change it. "Alright," the leader finally said, "if you say so."

Without saying another word, Bunny tapped his foot on the stone floor, said his goodbyes to his fellow Guardians, and disappeared into his tunnel before it closed.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Alrighty! That was Chapter 5 for you guys! The other Guardians will try to figure out what to do with Pitch in the next chapter, and we'll get a sneak peek as to what Bunny is going through in the next chapter! So stay tuned for…CHAPTER 6! Don't forget to review, favorite and follow! Thanks again, guys!


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:** *nervously peeks around a corner and laughs nervously* Uh…hey guys, I'm back, and once again, I am so…SO sorry for keeping you guys waiting…again. School has been a butt lately with midterms and projects…and lots…and lots of projects…and *shudders* finals… Not to mention, I had a bit of writer's block with this one chapter, but I'm on winter break now. So I should be able to update more for a little while, and here it is! CHAPTER 6! But before we get to that…REVIEW REPLIES!

 **NorthernMage: OMG, it's no problem! I completely get it. Life does that sometimes unfortunately! I am so glad you're back now! Looking forward to your reviews again! Yeah…something will definitely go wrong, especially now when Bunny won't really open up to the others. Let's see what happens!**

 **FrostedDragonHeart: Lol! I know right? So, so stubborn!** ***sighs* We'll see how that works out for him. Lol, yes, I know…I'm evil! Lol! Aww, thank you so much! I'm really glad you're still enjoying it…even though I'm taking forever to update…**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to** _ **Rise of the Guardians**_ **.**

* * *

Chapter 6

"I can't believe you just let him go like that!" Jack exclaimed at North as soon as Bunny left the four of them in the Globe Room.

"Jack, I didn't have a choice," North said calmly as he ran a hand through his white hair. He didn't enjoy the fact that he let Bunny go so quickly either, so he understood why his boy was angry. "He wasn't badly injured or anything. I can't force him to stay here if he doesn't want to."

"Really?" the winter teen retorted with a deadpan expression on his face replacing the glare. "Says the guy who had a few of his huge abominable snowmen grab me by the hoodie, shove me into a sack, and toss me through a magic portal."

"Now, my boy," North said smirking and wagging his finger, "you said—ah never mind that right now." He immediately redirected to the situation at hand involving the absent Pookan warrior. "Look, the only reason I let Bunny go was because he _was_ in fact fine, and there was nothing wrong with him. Believe me, Jack, if there was something wrong, I would've done anything in my power to make him stay."

Jack couldn't help but sigh knowing that his adoptive father was right. Bunny was not physically harmed aside from being roughed up in the fight with the Boogeyman. It didn't seem like Pitch brainwashed him or hurt him mentally, so there most likely was anything to worry about. "Yeah, you're right," he finally said to North, "I'm sorry."

The Guardian of Wonder gave the Guardian of Fun a small smile and gently patted him on the back.

"So what's our next move, North?" Tooth suddenly asked before he could respond to Jack's apology. "Do we try to interrogate Pitch? If Bunny won't tell us, maybe he will."

Sandy nodded in agreement as he crossed his arms. They had been saying that Pitch would not just kidnap Bunny without a reason, and now was their chance to find out what that reason was. They knew where the lair was, so there was nothing stopping them from going to the Boogeyman themselves, despite what Bunny told them.

"Actually, I…I don't think there's anything we _can_ do at this point," North finally stated making Sandy, Tooth, and Jack simply stare at him with widened disbelieving eyes.

"What are you talking about?!" Tooth nearly shrieked. "How could you say that?! He kidnapped Bunny and yet barely touched him! That's a perfect reason to get him to tell us what he did to our friend!"

"Aside from that and Bunny being roughed up, we don't have anything to really question him on," North tried to explain calmly. "I also believe that Bunny might've been right. Pitch was probably messing with us to let us know that he broke free from his prison and to get us together again."

The Guardians of Memories, Dreams, and Fun stared at their leader as they tried to process what he said. Jack specifically thought back to when Pitch ambushed him and Bunny earlier that day and how he and the Pookan Guardian had to fight off his nightmares before he had them kidnap Bunny. He couldn't help but be reminded of a similar experience…his first encounter with the Boogeyman when Manny chose him to be a Guardian…when he used the show on the Globe to distract them while he attacked the Tooth Palace.

"I…I guess North has a point," Jack finally said. "I mean he did something like that when I was chosen…when he tricked you guys so that he could attack the Tooth Palace. Maybe that's sort of what happened today…just to show that he escaped, and the fact that he had his nightmares definitely shows he has more strength than he did a month ago."

"I agree," Tooth replied as Sandy nodded pointing at Jack, "but that still doesn't explain why he said that he wanted you as his Nightmare Prince but kidnapped Bunny instead."

All four of the five Guardians stopped and found themselves in a moment of silence as they realized that they forgot about that one detail. Now, they were more confused in trying to understand the method to the Nightmare King's madness. If Pitch wanted to prove his strength to the Guardians, why did he say that he wanted Jack as his Nightmare Prince and then kidnap Bunny? That still didn't make any sense.

Jack let out an exasperated sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose feeling a headache coming on. "Man, this is like a dog chasing its tail," he finally said. "We're getting nowhere with this…at least not by standing here scratching our heads."

"The only idea I can come up with is that…we wait," the Guardian of Wonder finally said after a sigh in defeat. "We should wait to see what Pitch has in store for us because he clearly has something up his sleeve."

Sandy furrowed his eyebrows together as he flashed a sandy image of a question mark and an exclamation point. The Guardian of Dreams was as confused as his fellow Guardians as to what the Boogeyman was planning, but he didn't think North would even consider waiting around for their enemy to make his next move.

"North, I'm going to have to agree with Sandy," Tooth interjected. "Do you really want to take such a risk? Do you really want to just wait?"

"Yes, we lay low and keep a close eye on Pitch and Bunny," North replied. "We'll wait to see what happens, and if Pitch does anything suspicious, _that_ is when we strike. Bunny may be right, and this could've been a scare tactic."

The Tooth Fairy hugged herself as she contemplated for a moment, and she could tell that Jack and Sandy were thinking the same thing. North did have a valid point. It wasn't that they weren't going to do anything about Pitch, but they would simply lay low and see what would happen next before fighting back.

She finally sighed. "Guys," she said turning to the winter teen and the Sandman, "he's right. We'll know more about what Pitch might be planning if we keep a close eye on him for a while. If he believes that we're not going to bother him, then maybe he will feel it's his chance to put whatever his plan is into action."

"Well…he really isn't going to just tell us," Jack replied, "and neither will Bunny."

Sandy nodded in agreement with the winter teen.

"Then it's settled," North finally said relieved that his fellow Guardians understood his point about the Boogeyman. "For the next week or so, we keep a very close eye on Pitch and his nightmares. If there is anything-and I mean… _anything_ , out of the ordinary, then we strike. Agreed?"

"Agreed," Jack and Tooth said in unison as Sandy nodded.

"Alright," the leader of the Guardians responded. "Well, I think we need to call it a day and return to our jobs. We've all had enough excitement for one day."

"That's a good idea," Tooth said nodding, "and Sandy and I will let you know if anything comes up."

"Good, and please be careful," the Guardian of Wonder replied. "I have a feeling in my belly that what Pitch put us through today was only the beginning."

With that, Tooth and Sandy said their goodbyes before returning to their respective jobs leaving Jack and North alone in the Globe Room.

"Hey, look, North, again, I'm…I'm sorry for yelling like that," Jack said after a brief moment of silence. "I just—"

"It's alright, Jack," North said as he wrapped an arm around his adoptive son. "I know you're worried about Bunny. We all are."

As they spoke, the Guardian of Wonder began leading the Guardian of Fun out of the Globe Room down the hall to the Workshop.

"This just has to be the most random plot Pitch is putting together," Jack said as they walked. "I just…I can't figure it out. His last two attacks were pretty obvious from the start, but this time…"

"I know, my boy," North said, "but we will figure it out. Pitch can't be secretive forever. His plan will unravel soon enough. Now, let's not worry about that right now and go work on a few ice sculptures before bed, dah?"

Jack smiled at his adoptive father. "Sure, sounds great," he said. He was about to follow him in when he suddenly stopped as the memory of what happened earlier today came back to him.

" _What do you want, Pitch?"_

" _What I've wanted for the past few months, you, Jack. I want you to return as my Nightmare Prince!"_

" _Sorry, you drongo, but that is_ not _going to happen. If you want him, you're going to have to go through me."_

" _Oh, look at the fluffy rabbit trying to defend the newest Guardian. Isn't that just adorable? If I recall correctly, there was one other time you tried that, and it didn't turn out very well for you, did it?"_

" _Oh, I'm going to make you regret saying that."_

"Jack…are you alright?" the older man asked the winter teen when he realized that he stopped in his tracks and wasn't following him into the Workshop.

"Hm?" Jack said looking up at North. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I just…couldn't help but think about something that Bunny and Pitch said to each other today."

North furrowed his bushy eyebrows together in concern. Perhaps, this could be a lead as to what transpired between Bunny and Pitch earlier today. "W-What is it?" he finally asked.

"Well, when Pitch said that…he was after me," Jack began, "Bunny tried to defend me. He told Pitch that if he wanted me, he needed to go through him, so Pitch said that there was one another time Bunny tried to defend someone and it didn't work out. Bunny got really angry with him for saying that. I didn't think much of it at that moment, but looking back on it now…"

North furrowed his eyebrows together even more, but Jack could see that somewhere deep down…North knew what he was talking about. "Go on," the big man urged.

"Is there…some sort of history between Pitch and Bunny that I don't know about?" Jack finally asked.

The Guardian of Wonder had never felt more stumped in his life before today, and this certainly added to it. It seemed obvious that Bunny wouldn't be ready to share this part of his life before the Guardians with Jack, but at the same time, Jack had been opening up to them over the past month or so. Shouldn't Bunny do the same? Then again, he had only told North about his history with the Boogeyman. Not even, Tooth and Sandy knew. Still, what could he possibly tell Jack?

He could only sigh before speaking again. "Well, in a way, Jack, yes," he finally replied, "there is a history between Pitch and Bunny. Bunny had an…" he wasn't sure what word could possibly describe what Pitch put Bunny through, "encounter with him long before he was chosen to be a Guardian."

Jack couldn't help but cringe thinking back on the anger Bunny had toward Pitch today and their last few encounters with the Nightmare King. "I'm…guessing it wasn't pretty," he said.

North couldn't help but chuckle. "From what Bunny told me," he said, "it wasn't."

"What happened?"

North sighed again. "Unfortunately, Jack, I really shouldn't be the one to tell you," he replied. "Bunny has asked me not to say anything, and I can't break my promise. Only he can be the one to tell you if or when he's ready. Do you understand?"

Jack nodded clearly not liking North's answer. "Yeah, I understand," he said.

* * *

The Pookan Guardian laid in his burrow listening to the silence of his Warren. He knew he had some work to do in preparation for next Easter, but his heart wasn't in it at the moment…at least not after what happened with Pitch today. He might have told his fellow Guardians that he was fine and that Pitch didn't do anything to him, but thinking about it now, he wasn't so sure. Something felt very wrong. He wasn't lying when he told them about the fight he was in with the Nightmare King. He remembered that very clearly, but that whole time everything went black…it felt like he was forgetting something…as if there was a whole chunk of his memories missing. That couldn't be it though. They all established with the whole Nightmare Prince fiasco that he could only create illusions and nightmares, so what was it?

However, Bunny quickly shook the thoughts about the day's events out of his head. "Nah, those blokes made me a nervous nelly for nothing," he said aloud to himself. "Pitch did nothing to me. I'm fine." He finally paused. "Well, still, maybe it wouldn't hurt to ask Tooth at some point to look into it…just to be sure." With that thought, sleep finally overcame him.

Little did he know…a certain Nightmare stallion was watching closely from the shadows…but before anyone could see it, it vanished into the darkness without a trace.

* * *

The Nightmare stallion quickly rushed back to her master deep within the shadows of his lair. When she finally returned, she noticed the Nightmare King on the cold stone floor with his back up against the wall. She couldn't help but notice how weak he looked at the moment, so she quietly and quickly walked up to him as he tried to catch his breath.

Pitch perked as he heard his faithful Nightmare approach him, and while trying to hide how weak he felt, he looked at her.

"What is it?" he sneered.

The Nightmare neighed in response.

Pitch widened his eyes. "Really?" he asked. "Not a thing?"

The sandy horse whinnied in confirmation.

"Well, this is interesting," the Boogeyman said aloud as he played with the remnants of the green sand in his hands. "So, he doesn't remember anything that transpired while he was under the sand's spell. This will make things much easier." Then without any hesitation, he stood up on his feet as the sand horse watched. He was amazed that he was able to pretend that he was well in front of the Guardians. Then again, he was the master of illusions, so it wasn't all that surprising. "The only setback is that this sand makes me weak. I'll have to wait before I can strike again, but if I'm right, that should give the Guardians enough time to feel safe with me around. If they can't prove I did anything to the rabbit, they won't come looking for me." He finished his monologue with an evil chuckle.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** ALRIGHT! THAT WAS CHAPTER 6, GUYS! So, lots of questions and very little answers in this chapter! But now the story is pretty much set up, so things will start to heat up in the next chapter! Stay tuned for CHAPTER 7! Once again, I am sorry for the delay. School really took over, and of course, I couldn't sit down to get this chapter ready for you guys. Although I am on break now, like I said, and I'm about halfway in writing out Chapter 7. So I will try my best to get it out before Christmas because I will be busy between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve as I'll be away with family. If I don't, it will definitely be ready once I get back. So, please leave a review! They really motivated me in my last fanfic and I really enjoyed reading them! I really appreciate it! Thanks, guys! Merry Christmas! And see you in the next chapter!


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:** Hello, my lovely readers! HAPPY NEW YEAR! I have returned with…CHAPTER 7, and I didn't take too long this time! Unfortunately, though, I didn't get to go on vacation due to a sudden death in the family, so I was dealing with that and the business of the holidays. Nevertheless, I managed to write this out and get it out to you guys! So, like I said in the last chapter, THIS is where things really start to hit the ground running in this story as we get a little more info as to whatever is going on with Bunny, so get ready my friends! BUT…before we get to the chapter…REVIEW REPLIES!

 **Survivor: YAY! So glad you liked it! Hope you like what's coming next! It's going to get intense!**

 **FrostedDragonHeart: Lol! Thank you so much! I'm so glad you liked it! Hope you like what's coming next because things are about to get insane! Hope you enjoyed your Christmas! And Happy New Year!**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to** _ **Rise of the Guardians.**_

* * *

Chapter 7

About two weeks passed since the day Pitch kidnapped Bunny, and the Guardians found no traces of Pitch coming back for more. North, Tooth, Sandy, and Jack all tried to keep a close eye on Bunny to make sure everything was alright with him, and from what they could see, it was as if Pitch never touched him. The Guardian of Hope carried on as he normally did, and while the Guardians of Wonder, Memories, Dreams, and Fun were relieved, they also couldn't help but feel uneasy with the calm atmosphere that remained after they saved their friend. Nevertheless, the other Guardians, much to Bunny's dismay, made sure to keep an eye out for the Boogeyman and to keep another eye on him every now and then. One never knew what the Nightmare King could and would do at this point.

* * *

" _Aster…"_

Bunny groaned as he buried his head deeper in his arms hoping that whoever was calling him would go away.

" _Aster…"_

The Pooka once again refused to answer.

" _ASTER!"_

Bunny suddenly jumped wide-awake. "Huh?" he said looking around for the source of the voice. That didn't sound like Jack…or North…or Tooth. Sandy couldn't even talk, so he was an obvious "no," but it did sound familiar…very familiar. "W-Who's there?"

" _Aster, come on out,"_ the voice called again.

Could it be? Bunny quickly hopped to his feet and ran outside of his burrow, and when he finally made it outside, he stopped in his tracks when he saw who it was. In front of him were three Pookas…and not just any Pookas. They were three Pookas he once knew…and thought were lost forever.

"I…I don't believe it," he said watching them sit in the grass playing and laughing.

One of them…a small male Pooka…his little brother…looked in his direction and smiled. _"Come on, Aster!"_ he shouted. _"Come play with us!"_

* * *

Jack eagerly jumped through the portal after saying his goodbyes to North promising to be back at the Pole later, and he immediately ran off to find Bunny hoping to find him up and about already.

"Hey, Bunny, where are you?" the winter teen shouted as he looked around the Warren.

No answer came.

"Bunny?"

* * *

" _Come on, Aster!"_ his little brother said again with more insistence. _"Let's play!"_

"I…I…I don't understand…" Bunny said staring at the sight in front of him. "I-I thought…" He stopped mid-sentence when he noticed the two other Pookas taking a few steps closer, and his jaw dropped.

" _Hello, Aster…"_ one of them finally said.

"M-Ma…I-I…" he couldn't help but chuckle. "This…this can't be real…I-I must be dreaming…I-I mean y-you look…like you did…when…when I was a kit…and…and…" he noticed the other Pooka standing next to his mother, "Dad…I-I can't believe y-you're all here…"

" _Of course, we are,"_ his little brother said casually. _"Why wouldn't we be?"_

* * *

Jack ran over to where Bunny's burrow was in hopes that the Guardian of Hope had simply overslept again, but when he finally reached his intended destination, he stopped short when he saw the Pooka standing outside his burrow. The Guardian of Fun smirked to himself and crouched down ready to playfully wrestle Bunny to the ground, but as he got closer, the boy stopped short again when he realized something strange with the Guardian of Hope. He looked like…he was talking to someone…but from what he could see from where his hiding spot, unless the person was invisible, there was no one with Bunny. He was all by himself.

"What the heck?" Jack asked himself. The boy had heard Bunny talk to himself before usually whenever he was working or thinking about something, and even during and after in his 300-year isolation, he himself had been guilty of it. However, this scene that was unfolding in front of him was not normal because Bunny actually looked like…and even seemed to believe that someone was talking to him. Completely forgetting his idea to pounce the Pooka, he walked over to him. "Hey...uh…Bunny?"

No answer. Instead, as if Jack was invisible, Bunny kept talking to…whoever he thought was there despite that there was clearly no one there. Out of the corner of his eye, the winter teen took note that even some of Bunny's egg golems looked at their leader with great confusion.

"What do you mean 'why wouldn't we be?'" Bunny suddenly asked still not looking at Jack or acknowledging his presence. Surely, he would've heard Jack approach him or talk to him. "Y-You…all three of you…and…our whole family…I lost you all."

"What?" Jack whispered to himself. As much as he would've loved to listen more to this "conversation," he knew it wouldn't have been right; he had to snap Bunny out of this. North was right. Bunny should only reveal his past when he was ready…not like this. "Hey, Bunny!" he said aloud. When there was no response, Jack tried again grabbing him by the shoulder turning him around so that they were facing each other. "BUNNY!"

* * *

" _Aster, don't you see?"_ his mother said gently taking a step toward him. _"We are never—"_

"BUNNY!" Someone shouted grabbing him by the shoulder from behind forcing him to turn around only to come face-to-face with a pair of blue eyes.

Bunny screamed as he jumped back in fear in suddenly seeing Jack. "Geez, mate," he said with a glare and a paw over his pounding heart, "do ya have to sneak up on me like that?"

"Well, I'm sorry," he said, "but you weren't answering me. You were too busy talking to…whoever you were talking to. Who _were_ you talking to anyway?"

"What are you talking about?" Bunny retorted. "I wasn't talking to anyone. There's no one here, ya gumby. I just walked out of my burrow to look for you before you snuck up on me."

Jack furrowed his eyebrows together as his jaw dropped in complete disbelief and confusion. Was the Easter Bunny for real? Was he seriously denying what just happened? Or was this just a way to hopefully get Jack to avoid the subject? If that was the case, Jack wasn't going to let him get away with that. "Bunny, come on," he began, "I saw you. You clearly were having an actual conversation with somebody."

It was now Bunny's turn to look at Jack with confusion, as he had no idea what the boy was talking about. Sure he talked to himself sometimes, and there would be times when someone caught him. However, Jack was making it sound like he was losing his mind and having conversations with people who weren't there. Then again, he did feel like he blacked out for a second…was Jack right? He wouldn't lie about something like this, or maybe he thought he saw Bunny talking to himself when the boy saw him standing there. Instead of dwelling on it further, he simply shook his head and turned to Jack. "Look, Frostbite," Bunny said holding his hands up, "I don't know what kind of game you're playing…or what you think you saw, but it's not working okay? Now come on," he added crouching down to hop, "help me with these eggs. You know I can't afford to fall behind."

"But—" Jack tried to say only to be cut off by Bunny hopping off ahead of him. He sighed in defeat. Maybe _he_ was the one hearing things. Maybe Bunny was telling the truth and wasn't talking to himself. No, he saw what he saw. The Pooka clearly thought someone was there…someone he knew and clearly didn't want to talk about it. "He'll talk about when he's ready." With that, Jack ran after the Pooka to catch up.

* * *

The day continued on as normally as it could for the Guardians of Hope and Fun despite what happened earlier. Jack and Bunny worked for a few hours on painting the eggs and finding new hiding places on the surface for the next year's Easter egg hunts. At first, very few words were spoken between the two Guardians; the tension was so thick that one might not believe that they had been getting along so well for the past few months. Thankfully, all it took was for Jack to crack a joke for the tension to finally break, and what happened when Jack arrived was pushed to the back of their minds.

After a while of painting eggs, the Guardians of Hope and Fun immediately found themselves in a harmless wrestling match around the Warren. The winter teen and the Pooka tumbled and roughhoused all over the Warren as Bunny's egg golems and egglets looked on. The two Guardians tumbled through the fields, where they wouldn't have to worry about crushing the eggs until finally, Bunny found himself on his back yet again.

"Hah! I gotcha again!" Jack exclaimed with pride clear in his voice. "You know, I'm actually getting pretty good at this."

Bunny couldn't help but chuckle at the boy's self-confidence. It reminded him of… He quickly shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts. "Ha…ha, yeah, yeah," he said as he gently pushed the boy off him. "Now, can you get off me?"

Jack laughed as he complied with Bunny's request and stood up to let his friend stand up. "So what do you say, Peter Cottontail? Another round?" He got into a defensive stance with a smirk. "I bet I can beat you again."

The Pooka could only shake his head laughing. He remembered what he said not too long ago…how this kid was really growing on him, and he would be lying if he said that that was no longer the case. He wasn't quite going to just flat out admit it, but he had really come to care about the kid just as much as he cared about their fellow Guardians. They had really become close as friends…maybe best friends.

"As much as I would love to watch put your money where your mouth is," he began as he brushed the dirt off his fur smirking at the winter teen, "we really should get back to work on the eggs. You think maybe you can help me figure out what kind of designs Jaime and his friends might like for next year?"

"Oh yeah, that'd be great!" Jack said excitedly. "The kids would love that!"

"Well, come on, mate, off your pop," Bunny said getting into a starting position. "I'll race you."

"You're so on," Jack said with a smirk. Within seconds, the younger Guardian took off with the wind carrying him leaving Bunny in the dust. "Try to catch me if you can!"

"Are you kidding me? You—" The Pooka suddenly stopped dead in his tracks…when he felt strange. He felt rage…and anger…and _hate_ building up inside of him. His eyesight became foggy and green…and he couldn't seem to shake it off.

" _Hey, Bunny! Come on, slow poke!"_

He looked up at the source of the voice. It was so distant that he couldn't tell who it was…but it sounded cocky…and menacing, which seemed to make him even angrier. The Pooka growled under his breath.

* * *

"Hey, Bunny! Come on, slow poke!" Jack shouted cheerfully from where he stood when he noticed that the Guardian of Hope wasn't following him. "It's not a race if you're just standing there."

However, Bunny stayed in his place as if he was still waiting for the race to begin, but Jack furrowed his eyebrows together when he noticed that Bunny was glaring at him.

"Uh…Bunny?" the winter teen finally asked.

* * *

There was a shadowy figure in front of him. The only feature Bunny could make out was the creature's golden eyes, and they looked just as menacing as its distorted shadow figure. It clearly wasn't one of Pitch's nightmares…it was something much worse…a fearling. It was prepared to attack, but Bunny was too quick and charged toward the fearling using all of his hate as a source of adrenaline. Thankfully, the fearling didn't have time to react as the Pooka tackled him to the ground. The shadowy figure screeched as Bunny tried with all his might to wrestle it…hold it down long enough for his people to get away.

* * *

Before Jack could even think, he felt the full weight of the 6'1" Pooka tackling him to the ground with great force. The boy didn't have much time to think about the pain as the Pooka was trying to wrestle him to the ground holding him down by the shoulders. Jack had tried to use his staff only to realize that he dropped it when Bunny essentially attacked him, so he tried to lift his legs and jammed them into Bunny's stomach but in vain.

"Bunny! What are you doing?!" the winter teen shouted as he struggled to get out from the Pooka's intense grip. "Get off me! BUNNY!"

* * *

The feeling sneered as he struggled under Bunny's grip, and the Guardian of Hope growled as he stared the shadow creature down daring it to attack him. He was pretty sure that he had the monster in his grip, but somehow, the fearling managed to wiggle his arm free and punched Bunny in the right cheek causing the Pooka to pull away clutching his face in pain.

* * *

As soon as Jack threw all his might into one punch into Bunny's cheek, he squirmed out of the Pooka's intense grip and backed away while keeping his eyes on the 6'1" rabbit. Jack could only glare at his fellow guardian trying to make sense of what just happened.

"What the _heck_ is the matter with you?!" he exclaimed. "What did you do that for?!"

However, Bunny didn't answer as he only glared at the boy, and Jack could only stare in fear. Never in his life had he ever seen Bunny so angry…not even when he messed with his egg hunts. Within seconds, Bunny pounced again.

* * *

" _What the heck is the matter with you?!"_ the fearling shouted. _"What did you do that for?!"_

The Guardian of Hope glared up at the fearling. A part of him deep down wondered why this shadow creature wasn't running away from him or attacking him, but the other part of him—the one that was full of hate and rage for this creature and his master—made him ignore those questions. So, he pounced toward the creature again, but this time, he grabbed the creature's arm yanking it roughly behind its back forcing it to the ground face first. He held onto this creature's arm with his left as tightly as he could and used his right to hold his head down.

"I'm going to kill you…" he sneered over the monster's protests.

* * *

Jack screamed in pain as Bunny grabbed his arm yanking it behind his back and forcing him to the ground and gripping his hair…hard to hold his head down. In the midst of his struggling as Bunny held him down forcing him to stay face first on the ground, Jack froze in fear when he heard the Pooka.

"I'm going to kill you…" he heard the 6'1" Guardian say behind him.

"What…?" Jack asked clenching his teeth. He continued to struggle to get out Bunny's grip but it was very difficult when you had the Easter Bunny pulling his right arm behind his back and gripping his hair…very hard. Nevertheless, he had to try to get away…to snap Bunny out of…whatever he was in while also realizing that this was probably similar to how North, Tooth, Bunny, and Sandy felt when Pitch made him his Nightmare Prince. "BUNNY! BUNNY, STOP! STOP IT! YOU'RE HURTING ME!"

It didn't work. Bunny kept his intense grip on Jack, and Jack could even hear him growling behind him. What was going on?

"BUNNY!" he tried again. "BUNNY! PLEASE, STOP IT! _STOP!_ "

Within seconds, a huge gust of wind came out of nowhere and managed to push Bunny off Jack forcing the Pooka to release the boy and threw him to the ground allowing Jack to slightly back away as Bunny moaned in pain struggling to stand up.

"Thanks, Wind," Jack mumbled under his breath as he watched the Pooka. He wanted to go to him and help, but how did he know that Bunny wouldn't try to attack again? He stayed where he was not even daring to move to where he dropped his staff. After a brief moment of watching the Pooka, he took a deep breath before taking a step toward his fellow guardian. "B-Bunny…?"

"Aw, crikey…what hit me?" the Guardian of Hope asked as he rubbed his cheek.

"A-Are you okay?" the Guardian of Fun asked carefully taking another step toward the 6'1" rabbit. He seemed like he was back to himself. He was talking to him and not threatening to kill him, which was somewhat of a good sign.

"Ah…not really…" Bunny replied as he struggled to stand up on his hind legs. "What happened, mate? Did Pitch attack me when I wasn't looking?" One minute he was about to race Jack…the next minute he felt like he was just punched in the face and beaten up.

Jack didn't answer right away as he furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion once again. Was Bunny really asking him this? Was this _another_ attempt to get him to forget what just happened? He seemed like he had no idea what happened, but how could that be?

"Are you kidding me?" Jack finally asked trying not to sound angry with his friend. "Bunny…you attacked me. You tackled me…Pitch isn't even here."

Bunny looked up at Jack as if he had grown an extra head again. Did he really say that just now? Did the Guardian of Fun really accuse the Guardian of Hope of attacking him? The Pooka stared at the winter teen hoping to find any signs that he was kidding…maybe trying to trick him, but no…he actually looked serious. He even sounded shocked and confused when Bunny asked him if Pitch attacked them again, but why would he accuse him of attacking him?

"Have you gone off your rocker, mate?!" Bunny asked glaring at the boy. "Why would I attack you?!"

"I have no idea!" Jack exclaimed in return. "We were racing one minute, and the next minute, you were tackling me to the ground saying you were going to kill me!"

"Come on, Jack, why would I do that?" Bunny retorted rolling his eyes. "If this is some prank you're trying to pull, it's not working."

"Bunny, it's not a prank! I wouldn't lie about something like this!" The boy took a deep breath to calm himself. "Look, Cottontail…are you sure Pitch didn't do anything while you were trapped in his lair?"

"For the millionth time, ya drongo, yes, I am. The answer is going to be the same no matter how many times you ask me."

Jack could only stare at the Pooka. If Bunny was lying, he couldn't blame him for not wanting to tell him what happened, especially after the way he yelled at him. He only sighed. "Bunny…I…I'm only telling you the truth. I'm not sure what's going on in your end, but I _am_ here if you want to talk."

It was Bunny's turn to sigh. "Look, why don't you just get out of here, okay? I got a lot of work to do." He gave the boy a small smile. "We'll have our race some other time, yeah?"

Jack could only nod, but he still wasn't convinced that Bunny wasn't hiding something. What happened today was evidence of that, but instead of fighting with the Pooka about it…he simply picked up his staff and opened a portal back to the Pole leaving Bunny alone in the Warren.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Well…a lot has happened here in this chapter, hasn't it? Lol! I told you things were going to heat up here with Bunny! Phew! Lots of tension is starting to build up here. So as you can see from this chapter alone, Bunny doesn't remember when he experiences these…"hallucinations" if you will. As mentioned in the previous chapter, the green sand makes it so that Bunny can't remember what he sees or feels during these episodes; as far as he's concerned, it's like he blacks out. We'll go into a little bit more detail about that in the next chapter, and we'll also see how Jack handles this whole situation. We'll also eventually go into more detail about Bunny's backstory as well, so stay tuned! So…I'll see you guys in CHAPTER 8! Don't forget to review! Please keep them coming, guys! You have no idea how much I love to read them! I really appreciate the feedback I had been getting!

Also, before I go, just a little PSA, school is starting up again really soon, but I will still try my best to keep these chapters coming for you guys to enjoy! I will do everything in my power to make sure this story is finished! Anyway, thanks again you guys, and I will see you all in the next chapter!


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:** Hey, everybody! I'm back and ready to update! Again, I am so sorry for taking so long in updating this story. I had meant to do it sooner, but things got really crazy at school with midterms and projects. Now, I'm starting the job search, so yeah it's been crazy. Not only that, but I had a little bit of writer's block, which really did not help…at all. BUT I got through it and am still determined to get this story out there no matter what, so without further ado, here is CHAPTER 8! Not too much happens here—it's basically Jack reacting to what happened in the previous chapter with Bunny, but I do hope you enjoy it nonetheless. But first…REVIEW REPLIES!

 **Northern Mage: Don't worry about it! Believe me, I get lazy sometimes too…whether it's reviewing a chapter or updating this story. Don't worry, Jack is not ready to let this go so easily. He's going to see what he and the others can do about this. Hope you like what's coming next!**

 **FrostedDragonHeart: Yay! I'm so glad you're continuing to like the story! Again I'm so sorry for taking so long. If I had it my way, I would update this every single week if possible. But don't worry all questions shall be answered as the story goes on! Hope you continue to enjoy this!**

 **Acetwolf94: MORE SHALL COME! I PROMISE! Thank you! Really glad you like it!**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to** _ **Rise of the Guardians**_ **.**

* * *

Chapter 8

The Guardian of Fun found himself returning to his new home within seconds before the large portal closed behind him, and sure enough, he found himself back within the busy workshop in the Globe Room. He quickly scanned the commotion hoping to spot the Guardian of Wonder and to tell him about the events that took place in the Warren not too long ago. As soon as a yeti told him where he could find North, Jack immediately ran for his office. He knocked on the double doors and went inside as soon as he heard North's permission to enter.

When Jack opened the door, he found his adoptive father at his work desk whistling a Christmas carol to himself as he chipped away the ice. The old man turned around and smiled when he saw Jack.

"Ah, Jack, my boy," North began his greeting, "you're home early. I thought you were going to spend the day with Bunny today."

"Well," Jack began with slight hesitation in his voice, "I did, and that's part of the reason why I came back so soon."

Hearing the hesitation in his voice made North feel concerned. Jack only ever came back early from visiting the other Guardians when they had a lot of work to do, and from what he was hearing…something had to have happened. He turned around to face the boy seeing him standing there rubbing his left arm. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Why are you rubbing your arm like that?"

"Uh…you see…um…" Jack began scratching the back of his head, "Bunny and I kind of…" He really didn't know how else to say it and mentally kicked himself for not bothering to think about how he was going to word this in front of North. The boy knew how protective North was of him ever since the incident with Pitch, and knowing what happened between him and Bunny plus their little holiday rivalry…things probably wouldn't turn out well. However, he knew it would be best to just tell North. Perhaps, he and North could figure out what to do about the Pooka's odd behavior, "I kind of got hurt rough-housing with Bunny just now."

"What?" North asked as he practically dropped his tools and gently took Jack's arm examining it for signs of injury. "Tell me what happened, son."

"Okay, well," Jack began, "I snuck into the Warren and saw Bunny standing near his burrow. I was going to try to tackle him when I saw him…doing something really weird. It looked like he was talking to himself, but he looked like he thought someone was _actually_ there."

"Did you hear what he was saying?" North asked very curious as to what his old friend might've been experiencing.

Jack was about to say something about when he noticed that Bunny was talking about how he thought he lost someone forever, but he stopped himself before he could speak. Was it really his place to tell North that? Then again, maybe North could help him understand as to why he probably would've said that, and it would be for Bunny's own benefit.

"Jack?" North carefully asked when he noticed that his boy seemed to hesitate.

The Guardian of Fun was jolted out of his thoughts and turned to look at the Guardian of Wonder, who looked at him with concern.

"Jack, you can tell me," North urged gently. "What was Bunny talking to himself about?"

"Okay…" the boy began deciding to take the leap and to see North's reaction, "I didn't exactly hear the whole conversation, but I did hear him say something about thinking that he lost someone forever. And whoever that someone was…it was pretty clear that he thought he was actually talking to them."

North furrowed his bushy eyebrows together while struck speechless hearing what transpired between the boy and the Pooka. So far, this was completely out of the ordinary for Bunny. Not only that, but it didn't take the leader of the Guardians long to figure out who that someone could potentially be. Nevertheless, he pushed the thought to the back of his mind for the time being and turned his attention back to Jack.

"Go on," he finally said.

"It took me a minute or two," Jack began in reply, "but I snapped him out of it…whatever the whole thing was. But when I did, I asked him about it, and he flat out denied doing it. He was just playing dumb about it and wouldn't bother to admit it, so I let it slide. We did some work around the Warren and played for a little while, and I was beginning to think that I _was_ seeing things. Bunny was completely fine and didn't really give me any reason to worry."

"Keep going," North said again urging his boy to tell him more. There had to be more because if there were nothing to worry about, Jack wouldn't be here at the moment telling him what happened.

"So, after we took a break, Bunny wanted to get back to work. We started racing, and he all of a sudden fell behind. I turned around to see what happened, and" the memory was still fresh in his head, "for some reason, he looked like he was really angry at something. Then without any warning, he tackled me to the ground…and…" he cringed knowing that North was not going to take this very well, "threatened to kill…me."

"What?!" The Guardian of Wonder didn't see this part coming at all.

"B-But it's okay!" Jack held his hands up to calm his adoptive father down. "I finally got him to snap out of it. He didn't really hurt me too bad—just pulled my arm backwards…a little too hard. Anyway," he continued before North could comment, "I asked him why he did what he did, but he played dumb again. Only this time, he looked like he didn't…even remember doing it."

"Strange…" North finally said when Jack finally finished. "I know Bunny can be brash and too proud for his own good, but he usually knows when to own up to his mistakes."

"Exactly what I thought," Jack replied. "North, I think there's something wrong with him."

"From what you just told me, I'm going to have to agree with you. This is not normal behavior…even for Bunny."

"You think it has something to do with Pitch capturing him?" Jack asked. "I know he said Pitch didn't do much, but maybe there really is something he's not telling us."

"I'm not going to lie to you, Jack, but the longer we're talking about this…the more bad feeling I get in my belly. Maybe Bunny is struggling to deal with whatever traumatic experience Pitch put him through."

"Well, I can tell you that from experience…it doesn't really just go away…"

The Guardian of Wonder attempted to respond, but stopped himself before he could even speak. North knew exactly what the boy was referring to. Things might have been going well for them and Jack after he managed to save his boy from Pitch's dark influence, but it wasn't that easy once things began to settle down. It was easy for North to see that Jack still felt a small underlying sense of guilt for what happened, especially when the wound in North's stomach was still fresh and painful after either Jack gave him a hug or when North performed a strenuous move during work. Not to mention that the boy sometimes woke up in the middle of the night after being haunted by a nightmare. It made sense that Jack would understand what Bunny was probably going through at the moment.

"So, what do we do?" Jack finally asked after an uncomfortable moment of silence.

North sighed. "Unfortunately, Jack," he began, "unless Bunny comes clean, I don't think there's anything we can do."

"What?" Jack asked shocked by what North said. "We're just not going to help him?!"

"I didn't say that," North said holding his hands up to calm the boy down. "I only meant that Bunny wasn't willing to tell us before. He still might not be ready right now, and we shouldn't force him."

Jack visibly relaxed once he heard his adoptive father explain himself, and then he nodded. "Okay, you're right," he said. However, he still felt that there was something they could do to help him, and that was when he finally had an idea. "Hey, what if in the meantime we go away on a little vacation? All five of us! I mean you and I went camping! We should do something like that for Bunny…get him away from the Warren and help him relax!"

North thought for a moment. "That is a brilliant idea, Jack," he said. "Just what Bunny needs right now after that madness!"

The Guardian of Fun widened his smile when he saw how happily North responded to his suggestion; he secretly liked it when the old man loved his ideas. It only continued to remind him just how lucky he was to have North as a father figure, but the boy didn't have much time to dwell on that. He had to remind himself that this was for Bunny.

"We can go real soon, even," Jack suggested. "The yetis can take care of things here, and Christmas is still months away. It's about a whole year before the next Easter arrives. It's perfect timing for all five of us!"

"Well, for Bunny and me, perhaps," North replied scratching his bearded chin, "but Tooth and Sandy work every night. You know that."

"Ah, we can work around it," Jack retorted quickly. "I'm sure they can go back and forth with their jobs or something. We should go talk to them about it right now and see what they say."

"Why don't I just go? Your arm may need to—"

"Don't worry about my arm. I'll be fine! Now, let's go!" Within seconds, Jack was already out of the workshop and making his way toward the sleigh.

* * *

"A vacation? All five of us?" Tooth asked excitedly.

Jack and North came flying in on North's sleigh with Sandy in tow, and the Guardians of Fun and Wonder quickly explained that they should take a trip…all five of them to get Bunny away from the Warren after the incident that occurred with him and Jack.

Sandy widened his smile and created a sandy image of the five Guardians relaxing together and a question mark.

"Yeah, we were thinking that it would be a great way for Bunny to just…not think about what happened with Pitch for a week or two," Jack said eagerly, "and for us to spend some time together. What do you guys say?"

"Oh…wait, a week?" Tooth asked scratching her head with hesitation clear in her voice. "I…I don't know, guys. I mean, Sandy and I work every night."

"Yes, we thought of that," North quickly interjected, "and we figured that you two could find a way to work and still enjoy yourselves on this trip. Whenever you don't have too much going on, or, Tooth, when you can get your fairies to take over for a while, you can come back to join us."

Both the Guardians of Memories and Dreams looked at each other, and then, Sandy smiled as he flashed a sandy scenario of the two of them working out their very busy schedules.

Tooth smiled before turning to Jack and North. "You know what, Sandy's right," Tooth said. "We can figure out how to get around our schedules to spend time with you guys. We're in."

"Excellent," the leader said gratefully smiling at his two oldest friends. "Now, we just need to convince Bunny to take some time off when we go."

"I think I have an idea on how to do just that," Jack said smirking thinking back on that one night where he encountered the Pooka in the alley within the city of Burgess.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Well, there you have it, boys and girls! That was CHAPTER 8! Sorry it was a little shorter than usual. I was originally going to have one more scene in this, but figured it best to transfer that idea into the next chapter and end it where it did. So, I hope you guys liked this one! So, now, these guys will have to convince Bunny to go on this trip with them, can they do it? Will he be willing to go? Will the vacation be enough to get him to relax? We'll have to see in CHAPTER 9! Keep reading and reviewing, guys! Thanks so much for reading, and I will see you in the next chapter!


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note:** *nervously peeks from around a corner and laughs* Uhhh…hey guys… *sighs* I know! I did it again, and I am SO SO sorry for taking so long. Things were crazy with grad school, my externship, AND searching for a job (which I recently accepted). I didn't have the time to finish writing the chapter and typing it up in time, so I profusely apologize…again. But nevertheless, here we are finally in CHAPTER 9! This chapter is a bit short only because I didn't have a lot of time, but I also want to do something different with Chapter 10, which you will see. So, before we move onto CHAPTER 9, REVIEW REPLIES!

 **Home4MentallyUnstable: Well, I guess you'll just have to wait and see!**

 **NorthernMage: Exactly, hopefully, it accomplishes just that!**

 **FrostedDragonHeart: Lol, well, we'll have to see if you're right! Yeah, that's actually kind of true. I've seen fanfics where they only take a day off, but I didn't see a reason why they couldn't take a whole week, especially when they were away from their homes for a few days during the movie and have ways to keep things going when they're not around to supervise. Thanks! I'm really glad you liked how that was handled. I was actually kind of worried that North seemed a little too calm, but you're right. North is the leader and Jack's father figure, so he needs to keep calm and levelheaded about this situation. And Jack would never tattle on Bunny, but he did realize that this was not normal behavior, and when he saw that Bunny wasn't willing to fess up, he had to take matters into his own hands. Thank you very much for being so patient! You are truly a saint! I hope you continue to enjoy the story!**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to** _ **Rise of the Guardians**_ **.**

* * *

Chapter 9

"Frostbite was such a gumby today," the Guardian of Hope grumbled to himself as he hopped down a path through his warren watching the little egglets pass by him. "He's got to be making it up. There's no way I attacked him or talked to my—" He stopped when he realized what he was doing. "Well…I didn't attack him at least. He…he probably threw a snowball at me or something and didn't want to admit it. Yeah, that's it…that's…that's got to be it."

However as soon as he said it aloud, he stopped. Something didn't feel right with that sentence. Of course, Jack wouldn't do something as stupid as knocking him out and then blaming it on him. The kid had proven over and over again that he knew when to own up to something he did wrong, especially over the last few months after the Easter disaster. There was no way the kid wouldn't just come clean and admit it. Plus, he could've sworn that he and Jack were having a race, and Jack was in front…before… It was still a blank. Nothing was coming to him.

To the Pooka, it made sense that he couldn't remember much about the time he spent in Pitch's lair. The Boogeyman and those Nightmares knocked him out, right? So, of course, he wouldn't remember much, but if he wasn't knocked out when racing with Jack…what happened? Why couldn't he remember anything? Something was missing, and he could feel it. Bunny growled to himself and pinched the bridge of his nose trying to stop an impending headache and sighing.

"Oi, mate," a familiar voice with….a clearly fake Australian accent said from behind causing Bunny to jump and turn around only to see a certain winter teen leaning against a tree. "Been a long time…only a few hours, huh?"

The Guardian of Hope could only roll his eyes at the winter teen. "What do you want, Jack?" he asked. "If you think I'm going to change my answer about whatever you think Pitch did, it's not going to happen."

Jack sighed in defeat. He had a feeling Bunny wasn't going to come around, but he hated hearing the Pooka say it aloud. North was right. He wasn't ready. "Okay, look, it's not about that," he quickly said dropping his façade. "It's actually about something else that I really think you'll like. Why don't you come back to the Pole with me? North, Tooth, and Sandy are waiting for us in the—"

"Look, Frostbite," Bunny interjected before the winter teen could finish, "I don't know if you noticed, but I'm super busy, okay? I can't really afford to leave the Warren right now. So, whatever it is, thanks, but no thanks." The Pooka immediately turned around to continue watching the egglets.

Jack sighed again in defeat. "Okay," he said as he leaned back against the tree and played with his staff in the same nonchalant, cool way Bunny did with his boomerang on that night a few months ago. "I guess you leave me no choice. Boys!"

Before Bunny could even turn to look at Jack, a large furry hand came up from behind and grabbed him by the fur on his back effortlessly picking him up off the ground while another came up to them with an old sack. Despite Bunny's protests, the yeti put him in the sack, while the other created a magic portal leading back to the Pole.

"Okay, let me be the first to say that payback is...sweet!" Jack said with a triumphant smile. With that, the yetis took the Pooka and followed their boss's adoptive son through the colorful portal.

* * *

Bunny struggled with all his might to free himself from the sack, but he suddenly felt as if he was being thrown into what he made out to be one of North's portals. What the heck was going on? What was Jack up to? Did the others know that he was doing this? Before he could ask himself anymore questions, he finally landed on what felt like a stone cold floor—probably North's workshop, and soon enough, the sack loosened at the top allowing him to free himself. Sure enough, as soon as he wiggled himself out, there stood his four fellow Guardians in front of him.

"Bunny, so nice of you to join us!" North said happily as they all watched the Pooka stand himself up.

"Well, it's not like I had a _choice_ ," he said looking directly at Jack, who was standing next to North, "Frostbite."

"Hey, it worked for me," Jack simply replied. "Besides, you never would've come here if I told you why we wanted you to come, so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity for payback."

The Guardian of Hope rolled his eyes as he dusted his hands off. "Alright, so, Frostbite got his payback," he said, "but I have a feeling that's not the only reason you practically dragged me here."

"Ah, Bunny, old friend," North said walking up to him and wrapping his arm around the Pooka, "you always were the smart one." He sighed. "I suppose we might as well tell you."

"Tell me what?" Bunny asked as he pulled away. "What's going on here?"

"Well…Cottontail," Jack began, "before you get edgy, just know that this was my idea. We were talking, and we noticed that you've been acting weird…even for you. So we figured that maybe…we could all go on a little trip together…you know to get you away from the Warren for a little while."

"A trip?" Bunny repeated after a moment of silence. "What…kind of a trip?"

"A camping trip, you knucklehead," Jack said smirking a little more confident in sharing his idea with the Pooka. "Kinda like the one North and I went on, except this time it will be all five of us for a week."

Bunny raised his furry eyebrows in slight shock and astonishment. Jack and North had gone on their camping trip once before, but it was only for a short weekend. He never once thought that they would share that with him, Tooth, and Sandy, let alone suggest they spend a whole week together.

"Are you blokes serious?" the Pooka finally asked. "A whole week?"

"Mhm," Jack said nodding very quickly.

"Agh…I-I don't know, Jack," Bunny said scratching the back of his neck with uncertainty. "I mean…I have a lot of eggs to prepare, and—"

"Oh, come now, Bunny," North quickly interjected. "Easter is not for another year. I think you can spare a week to spend time with us."

"Besides, Sandy and I will be taking time out of our schedules to have some down time," Tooth added. "If you want, maybe North can even send some yetis to check in on the Warren every now and then while we're away."

The Pooka paused and thought for a moment. He looked at each of his fellow Guardians, especially Jack, and it sounded like the kid really wanted them to take this trip together. Plus, it would be nice to have a few days to relax after everything that has happened over the past few months between the disastrous Easter Sunday, the battle with Pitch, the Nightmare Prince incident, and his capture by the Boogeyman. Tooth also mentioned that they could have North's yetis watch the Warren while they were gone, and they had proven to be trusted. He sighed in what appeared to be defeat.

"Alright, you mates convinced me," he finally said. "I'll come with you."

"Yes!" Jack shouted happily.

"Klasno!" North shouted wrapping his arms around Jack and Bunny. "Fantastic! Now, let us stop standing here talking and actually plan this camping trip!"

* * *

As soon as the details were discussed and finalized amongst the five Guardians, it was soon time to return to their respective jobs. However, instead of going back to the Tooth Palace, the Tooth Fairy found herself sticking around in the workshop with the winter teen when he asked to speak to her privately. North thankfully left them alone to work in his office when Jack explained that he wanted to ask her something about the memories he recently discovered from his past life.

"What can I do for you, Sweet Tooth?" she asked with concern in her voice. "Is everything alright?" She had a feeling that Jack wasn't going to ask about his memories.

"Well, you know how North and I told you everything that happened with Bunny right?"

"Yes…?" The Guardian of Memories was unsure as to where the boy was going with this conversation.

"I think there's something really wrong with him. North and I still think that it has something to do with whatever happened between him and Pitch…something that he doesn't want to tell us."

The Tooth Fairy nodded as she listened to the winter teen. "I would be lying if I said that I didn't believe it," she replied. "He's certainly hiding something."

"Look, North doesn't know we're having this conversation, but I know that you looked into my memories when I was under Pitch's influence, so I was wondering…"

"Jack," she quickly said knowing exactly where he was going with this conversation, "I get that you're worried about our friend, and believe me, I am too." However, before Jack could respond, she continued, "I only tried that trick once on you as a last resort when we didn't understand what Pitch did to you, so I will only use the same on Bunny but only as a last resort, okay?"

Jack smiled. "Okay…fair enough," he replied. "Thanks, Tooth."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Alright so that was Chapter 9, guys! I apologize for the short chapter, but like I said, things got crazy with school, and I wanted to get this out to you as soon as I could. Once again, I apologize for taking a while to update, but I have a small break before I start working. So, I'm thinking I might be able to get Chapter 10 up soon. We'll have to see, but thanks again for sticking with this story! Keep reading and reviewing, and I will see you all in CHAPTER 10!


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note:** What's up, guys? I'm back with….CHAPTER 10! I can't believe that we actually made it to 10 whole chapters in this story! It took a while, but we made it, lol! But before we move to the review replies and the chapter, I wanted to explain something real quick:

Okay, so I did something a little different in this particular chapter. I was recently reading a fanfiction based on a book/movie called _Me Before You_ , which (for those who don't know) is about a young woman who becomes the caregiver of a quadriplegic man and falls in love with him, and outside of ROTG, this fanfic was one of my favorites.

So the author tried something different in writing this fanfic; basically, she wrote little "snippets" in one chapter to show time progressing throughout that one chapter to move the story forward, and I really thought that that was a clever idea to not rush the story but to also take time in allowing the readers to see what was happening in one chapter before moving on. I kind of did something similar in Believe It, but like I said, I wanted to do something like it again and was inspired when I read this particular fanfic.

So, I figured that this chapter was the best place to try that technique with the trip the Guardians are taking; the chapter includes snippets from a few days during the trip to allow the story to progress and to keep this trip to one chapter before moving on. Also, please note that I did the day they arrive to the campsite and went into the third, fourth day, and so on. I skipped the second day to avoid the chapter getting too long and to avoid being repetitive. I really hope you guys like this one! But before we move to CHAPTER 10….you guessed it….REVIEW REPLIES!

 **NorthernMage: Lol, no, he can't! And even if he wasn't, there was no way Jack was going to let him miss out on it!**

 **FrostedDragonHeart: Lol, that it is! I'm glad you loved it! Yes, the camping trip is indeed a go! Yeah, I wanted to address it somehow, and this was the best way to do it. They weren't sure what happened with Jack in** _ **Believe It**_ **, and he wasn't going to tell them. So, they used it to get some answers. Given that Bunny wasn't showing any signs of whatever Pitch did to him, Tooth had no reason to use the trick, and I figured she wouldn't just go around peeking into people's memories. I'm really glad to hear that you're enjoying it so far, and yes, the plot is starting to thicken. Things will heat up soon! Lol, I appreciate that, thank you!**

 **Guest: Ahhh! Thank you so much! I really appreciate it! I hope you continue to enjoy it!**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to** _ **Rise of the Guardians**_ **.**

* * *

Chapter 10

The silence of the Warren was interrupted when something or someone moved about within the shadows of the night. The shadowy figure made his way into the burrow that the Nightmare horses often found him sleeping in for the past few weeks. His strength has been depleted ever since he started using this new hate sand on the Pooka, and he had been relying on the rabbit's nightmares and the fear of a few children throughout the world. However, this time was different when he slithered into the burrow completely undetected only to find that it was completely empty.

Of course, the Boogeyman was furious that he lost the pawn in his latest scheme. At least when Jack was his Nightmare Prince, he was able to keep an eye on the boy, but the minute he lost control, he lost him. He could not let this happen with Bunny, so he turned to his Nightmare.

"Stay hidden and wait for the rabbit to return," he sneered. "As soon as he does, report to me at once."

Pitch disappeared back into the shadows leaving his nightmare sand horse to keep watch, and he soon found himself back in his lair in front of his Globe of Belief.

"Until the rabbit returns," he said staring at the little lights that flickered all over the Globe, "I suppose I'll have to resort to old methods to regain my strength."

* * *

The Guardians agreed to go on their trip about a week after they informed Bunny of their plans. Jack and North thought it would be best to go to the same spot where they had their camping trip, and of course, much to the Pooka's dismay, they used North's huge sleigh as their mode of transportation. Jack even had the chance to drive the sleigh, which made Bunny slightly more nervous. Although, the Pooka observed that the boy was… _slightly_ …better than the last time North let him take over the sleigh. Not to mention that they weren't in the middle of a battle against the Boogeyman's sand horses, and from what the winter teen had been telling him, Tooth, and Sandy, he had plenty of practice before today. That however didn't stop the Guardian of Hope from gripping onto the sleigh for dear life and wondering just how much was "plenty of practice."

Within a few hours or so, North and Jack landed the Moon-forsaken sleigh in a large wooden area in northern Russia; apparently, this was where North took Jack a few months ago after the Nightmare Prince incident. At least, they were familiar to the area.

"Welcome to our campsite, friends!" North shouted joyfully once they got the reindeer to settle down. "This is where we will be staying for the next week!"

"Oh, North, Jack, this is lovely!" Tooth said happily as her wings fluttered lifting her up in the air.

Sandy flashed two thumbs up and nodded his head.

The Guardian of Hope slowly picked herself up and peered over the edge of the sleigh to survey…wherever it was that Jack and North brought them to for this trip. The campsite was certainly serene, and he could immediately see why his two fellow Guardians loved this particular spot in the forest. It was secluded, which was needed in giving them a chance to have some quality time and keeping them from being seen by children and giving adults any reason to be suspicious. It was a rather large clearing in the forest with a lake and mountains off in the distance, and it actually seemed like a good spot for camping…not that he doubted it.

"Bunny…BUNNY!" a voice suddenly said.

"Huh?" the Pooka said as he was brought back to reality. He looked to see that it was Jack standing on the wing looking at him with some concern etched in his face.

"You okay, Cottontail?" the winter teen asked.

"Uh…yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Bunny quickly replied as he hopped over the edge of the sleigh. "Come on, let's help set up camp."

Jack couldn't help but smile watching Bunny run over to help their fellow Guardians set up their campsite. He had a good feeling about this trip.

* * *

By the time the third day rolled around, all five of the Guardians fell into a routine during their little getaway. While Bunny, North, and Jack stayed at the campsite all day and night, Tooth and Sandy switched back and forth between spending time with their fellow Guardians and tending to their respective jobs. So far, the routine was working out very smoothly for them…even Bunny.

Jack and North were in fact nervous that the Pooka would not be able to adjust to relaxing, especially when he wasn't tending to his little eggs, and at first, it took him time to let go of the stress. However, as Jack happily observed, he really seemed like he was adjusting.

"You know, you could just use the fishing poles like North and I are doing," Jack said casually as he and North watched from where they sat in the raft in the middle of the lake.

"Shh…" Bunny said smirking at the water below them, "Frostbite, I can't do this with you blabbing."

"I thought bunnies and kangaroos are herbivores," Jack said as he twiddled the fishing poles in his fingers waiting and hoping for his next catch to come along. "And here you are trying to catch a fish."

"Shh! First of all, I'm technically a Pooka," Bunny began, "so—AHA!" As soon as he spotted a fish swimming in the water, the Guardian of Hope jumped forward and swung his arm down in hopes to grab it, but unfortunately, he put so much effort into it that he accidentally threw his whole body into the water.

"Oooh…" Jack and North said grimacing as they watched Bunny quickly resurfacing and coughing for air.

"Tough break, my friend," North said as he and Jack helped him get back onto the raft.

Jack couldn't help but chuckle. "The Easter Kangaroo, ladies and gentlemen," he added with sarcasm in his voice.

Bunny widened his eyes briefly at Jack and then smirked, but before either Jack or North could react, their fellow Guardian shook his body dry splashing North and Jack in the process.

"HEY!" adoptive father and son shouted in unison.

* * *

The fourth day arrived quickly, and the Guardians spent the day hiking through the forest that surrounded their campsite. Fortunately, Tooth and Sandy were able to join them today leaving Baby Tooth in charge of collecting the teeth and the children without dreams for one night, so Jack and North led them down the trail they took when they were in that area. The Guardians found a Golden eagle nest that Jack spotted on the previous trip, and the winter teen noted that the little hatchlings had changed quite a bit. After that, they returned to the campsite, where Jack froze a small portion of the lake allowing them to go ice-skating.

After discovering his memories from his previous life, Jack slowly regained his old love for the activity, and of course, he wanted to share it with his fellow Guardians…his new adopted family. While North (obviously), Tooth, and Sandy happily obliged, Bunny…wasn't too sure about it.

"Come on, Cottontail," Jack pleaded.

"Would love to, mate, really," Bunny replied as he sat on the edge of the lake painting a stone he found on the shoreline, "but I'm not that much of an ice-skater. Besides, why stand on frozen water when you can stay on the nice ground?"

"Come on, Bunny!" Tooth shouted from where she skated with Sandy and North. Bunny had been doing so well relaxing on this trip, and she hated the idea of that going to waste just because he did not want to ice skate with them. "Just give it a try! It's a lot of fun! I can see why Jack loved it so much in his past life!"

"I'm telling you, Sheila," the Pooka called out to the Tooth Fairy, "I'm good, honest!"

Jack sighed in defeat. Just when he was beginning to think that the Guardian of Hope was loosening up, he was still showing signs of resistance. The past few days, there had been no evidence of Bunny's odd behavior before they left for the trip, yet he still tried to put his guard up. Although, Jack couldn't blame him for doing so, especially when Pitch put them both in circumstances, but that still didn't stop him or the others from wanting to help the Guardian of Hope.

The Guardian of Fun simply shrugged. "Okay, I get it," he said as he slowly backed away.

"Get what?" Bunny asked suspiciously. He didn't think that Jack would or even _could_ back down from a challenge so easily.

"You don't want to try," the winter teen replied as he slowly backed away. "You don't think you can ice-skate, which is fine." He smirked. "It will save you from the…agony of defeat…after I, you know, beat you in a race."

"Jack…" North said with a warning tone in his voice trying to rein Jack in before he went out of line.

"It's okay, North," the Pooka said quickly said smirking at the boy. "I could totally beat you, Frostbite."

Jack paused. "Is that a challenge, Cottontail?"

"I said it once, and I'll say it again: you don't want to race a rabbit, mate."

"Believe me, I'll take my chances."

"Here we go," Tooth said rolling her eyes at the winter teen and the Pooka as they agreed to skate across the lake and back.

* * *

"Do you think I have power over water?" Jack suddenly asked.

Bunny looked away from the stars in the night sky above and at the boy to his right only to see that he was staring at the lake. "What?" he asked.

"Do you think I can control water?" Jack repeated as he dipped his finger in the lake causing frost patterns to appear on the surface. "I mean…I can freeze it…make it snow out of thin air, make people feel happy when a snowflake touches their noses, but I've sometimes wondered if I can control it."

"What brought this on, ya gumby?" Bunny asked as he sat up.

"I was hanging out with Jaime this week before we left," Jack began, "and we were watching this TV show that had this girl control water, and she lived in the South Pole and could freeze water, too. So, I've been kind of curious if I—spirit of winter and all—could do that, too."

"You mean to tell me that you're basing this off what you saw on TV?" Bunny asked with an incredulous look on his furry face.

"Well…yeah."

Bunny scoffed and rolled his eyes before turning his attention back to the stars above him. "I think North needs to start keeping an eye on what you watch on TV with Jaime, mate," he said. "It could mush your brain."

"What? Come on!" Jack said laughing. "I happen to think that it's a legitimate question. Snow and ice are basically frozen water after all. Plus, it could help if we find ourselves in Hawaii or something when fighting Pitch, don't you think?"

Bunny widened his eyes as soon as Jack said that. At first, Jack started to believe that he unintentionally struck a nerve mentioning the Boogeyman, but then Bunny finally began to speak. "Huh…okay, you…might actually have a point," he said as he propped himself up on his elbows. The Pooka pictured the winter teen in various situations using normal water…from oceans…lakes…rivers to bring down Pitch…with the help of his staff of course. "That could actually come in handy."

"Right?!" Jack exclaimed.

Bunny chuckled at the youngest Guardian's excitement. Finally, his face turned somber as one particular thought that had been nagging at his gut for some time now. "Oi, Jack," he said causing the boy to turn to him, "this…this might sound a little weird, but…" he thought back on when they saw the boy's memories: how Manny saved him after he saved his little sister and fell through the ice and drowned, "after Manny saved you from…you know…the lake…did…did he or anyone teach anything about your powers?"

Jack lied back down on the ground staring at the stars and the crescent-shaped moon clearly thinking back on those 300 years he had been wandering around trying to get people to see him, to figure out why he was placed on this Earth to begin with, and to get Manny to talk to him. To this day, even after Jack figured out who he was and that he was meant to be a Guardian…the Man in the Moon still never spoke to him. North told him it was probably because Manny did not feel the need to interfere after Jack became a Guardian, but the old man couldn't seem to find an answer as to why Manny never tried to help Jack during those 300 years of isolation. The best he could come up with was that Manny felt that Jack needed to figure it out on his own.

"It's funny because North asked me that too once before," Jack finally replied. "Mother Nature and Old Man Winter tried teaching me for a little while some time after Manny saved me, but it didn't last very long. Even they weren't aware of the full extent of my powers, especially when Manny was the one who created a seasonal spirit instead of Mother Nature."

Bunny couldn't help but remember various mythical creatures talking about that very topic: the fact that a season spirit, the spirit of winter was created by the Man in the Moon instead of Mother Nature and the fact that Manny felt the need to have a second spirit of winter along with Old Man Winter. "Well, you know what?" he finally said. "When we get back, maybe we can find a way to see if you can do anything with water."

Jack couldn't help but chuckle. "Bunny, I wasn't trying to make you feel guilty or anything," he said. "I was just answering your question."

"I know," the Pooka replied. "I just want to help my little buddy and answer his question."

The Guardian of Fun smiled. "So, who taught you?"

"Who taught me what?"

"Was there anyone who taught you how to…I don't know…throw boomerangs or…paint eggs…or…"

Bunny laughed. "Well, it's sort of mixed," he said. "My dad taught me taichi ever since I was since a kit—what someone would call a baby Pooka. Everything else I just learned on my own. I was on my own on this island near Australia before I met North, Tooth, and Sandy."

"Really?" Jack asked astonished that Bunny was actually sharing something about his background. "W-Why?"

Bunny shrugged. "Eh…I just needed to…get out on my own, you know?" he started. "So I made myself at home on Easter Island…just off the coast of Australia."

"Well, that explains the accent," Jack said with a smirk only to be met with a playful punch in the arm. He laughed at his comment, but then he stopped when he thought of something. "You know…it's kind of funny…how we were both alone at some point in our lives before we became Guardians."

The Pooka stared at the winter teen. "Yeah…I guess so," he said. "Well, uh…maybe we should hit the hay."

"Yeah…I-I'm getting pretty tired," Jack said as he stood up but noticed that Bunny wasn't moving. "You…coming?"

"Nah, you go ahead and get some sleep, mate," he said. "I'm going to stay up for a bit."

"Okay, good night, Cottontail."

"Night, Frostbite."

* * *

"I think this trip is doing a lot better than we thought," Jack told North the next morning.

"I agree," North replied as he sharpened one of his swords. "I heard you two talking last night."

"Yeah, we talked about a lot," Jack replied. "He told me a little bit about what his dad taught him. He…he…also mentioned that he was alone for a long time before he met you guys."

"Yes…he told us that too," North added. "Unfortunately, Jack, that's only some of what we were able to get out of him, so don't get your hopes up. He has the tendency to shut down."

"Yeah, he…kind of did last night," Jack said remembering how quickly Bunny ended the conversation when they started talking about how alone they had been before becoming Guardians, "but the fact that we were able to get him out here away from everything…that's got to count for something."

North smiled amazed at how positive his boy was feeling about this trip. To be honest, he wasn't sure how this was going to go for Bunny, but he kept hope alive that the Pooka would learn to relax with their help. However, it seemed that things were looking up for him. He was letting go of whatever it was that remained after what happened with Pitch and letting his guard down.

"You are right about that, my boy," he said ruffling Jack's hair. "This really was a great idea, my boy. I cannot remember the last time we got him to step away from the Warren when we didn't have Pitch to worry about."

Jack smiled at his adoptive father.

The moment was interrupted when Tooth flew into the tent. "Oh, here you two are," she said happily. "We were starting to think you took off without us."

"No, no, Toothy," North said as he finished packing his gear, "we were just about to join you."

"Well, that's good," Tooth responded, "because Bunny and Sandy just agreed to a race. Whoever loses has to do the winner's job for a whole day."

"Ooooh…I would pay good money to see Bunny spreading dream sand everywhere!" Jack said as he practically ran past Tooth to get out of the tent.

North and Tooth laughed as they watched the boy grab his bag of gear and his trusty staff before scrambling out of the tent.

* * *

No matter how much the Guardians dreaded it, the last day of their weeklong camping trip finally came, which meant only one thing; it was time to return home and to return to their respective jobs. Because it was their last day of vacation, Tooth and Sandy took another day off to spend some more time with North, Jack, and Bunny. The five Guardians decided to spend the day together and to return to the Pole for a family dinner. To finish off their last day in the forest, it was decided that they go on one last hike down another trail to shake things up, and once that was completed, they ate some lunch together before it was finally time to go.

They all worked together to take down their campsite, and soon, it was time to return home. The five Guardians jumped into North's sleigh, and with North and Jack at the helm, they took off back to the North Pole, where they enjoyed a large dinner, arranged by the yetis. Finally, it was time for the party to break up, as Tooth, Sandy, and Bunny needed to return to their respective jobs, and Bunny was the first to leave when he stopped.

"Oi, mates," Bunny said as he was about to hop into his tunnel getting his four fellow Guardians' attention, "thanks…for this week. I…I had a lot of fun, and I…I actually needed it. So…thanks, again."

"No problem, Bunny," Jack replied.

Then without any hesitation, Bunny jumped into his tunnel leaving Jack, North, Tooth, and Sandy alone in the workshop.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** WOW! This chapter got LONG, and I'm so happy about that! Lol, I really hope you guys enjoyed this one! Don't forget to leave a review! I really appreciate the feedback I had been getting for this story! It's been awesome! Thanks again, guys! And I'll see you in CHAPTER 11!

P.S. See if you can guess what TV show I was referencing when Jack and Bunny were talking! Lol! I'll announce the right answer in the next chapter!


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note:** Hey everybody! Here I am once again with…CHAPTER 11! Now that the Guardians are back from their trip, Pitch is ready to strike again… Let's see what he's up to! I know we all see what Pitch has been doing to Bunny, but in this chapter, you'll get to see just what he does to cause Bunny's odd behavior. Plus, remember in the last chapter when Pitch said he would have to resort to old methods…keep that in the back of your head for this particular chapter! Also, at the end of the chapter, stick around for a brief PSA! Before we get onto reading…REVIEW REPLIES!

 **Guest: Lol! I know right?! Seriously, Bunny,** _ **Avatar: The Last Airbender**_ **is a beautiful art! Lol! I need to as well, so don't worry you are not alone! Anyway, omg, thank you for your kind words! I'm really glad you liked the last chapter! I hope you continue to like this story!**

 **NorthernMage: Lol, you were actually right! It is Katara from** _ **A: TLA**_ **! It's totally okay. It was only a guessing game I decided to put in for the heck of it and to reference the show. I hope you continue to enjoy the rest of the story!**

 **Serami Nefera: Thanks! I'm glad you liked it! I felt that since Bunny has gotten to know North, Tooth, and Sandy over the years and that Jack is the newest Guardian and was worried about him like the others, it would be a good idea to put a little more focus on their relationship…you know…before Pitch finds a way to ruin everything. That's not a bad theory! It would make sense if Pitch did not know that Jack was going to be a Guardian and thus would not prepare for him. In the movie, he just brushes Jack off at first thinking he was a neutral party. Personally, I felt it was more of a "I-want-to-help-you-but-can't-give-you-all-answers-on-a-silver-platter" kind of like a godly figure/parent. Thank you so much for reviewing! I hope you continue to like the rest of the story!**

 **FrostedDragonHeart: Yay! I'm so happy you liked the bonding moments! I was hoping that I wasn't making Bunny too OOC as he relaxed, so it's so nice to see that you liked what I wrote! Lol, I enjoyed writing the racing bet too! Bunny passing out dream sand would be amazing to see! We already saw him collect teeth! Ding! Ding! Ding! You are correct! It's Avatar! Same here, I need to see it again too! Anyway, thanks again for reviewing! I really hope you continue to enjoy what's coming next!**

 **RANDOM GUEST: Awwwww! Thank you so much! That really means a lot to me! And as more people like you find this story and give it a read, more reviews will keep coming! I'm so glad you like this story! And yes, you are correct! It's such a great show!**

 **(I'm not going to lie, I was really excited to get 5 reviews for this chapter! Please keep 'em coming, guys! I really enjoy reading them and replying to them! Also, if you ever want to talk about the story as well, feel free to PM me!)**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to** _ **Rise of the Guardians**_ **.**

* * *

Chapter 11

The Nightmare had been watching within the shadows all week. The Warren was calm the whole time the Guardian of Hope was gone, and her master ordered her to stay in the rabbit's hideout until he returned. It was unclear as to where they went, but Pitch knew that he had to come back to his realm at some point. So, the Nightmare watched and waited. She watched the little egglets…and the golems; there were a few yetis that came in through portals every other day and left soon after, but there was still no sign of the rabbit or any of the other Guardians.

However…after a whole week…a tunnel finally opened in the middle of the Warren, and sure enough the rabbit came out. The Nightmare perked at the sight of her master's pawn, and as soon as she saw him head into his burrow, she disappeared back into the shadows and returned to Pitch's lair, where she saw the Boogeyman standing near the Globe of Belief and watching the little lights flickering all over the world.

"Has he returned?" Pitch asked.

The Nightmare nodded in confirmation, and that was all the Nightmare King needed.

"Perfect," Pitch said as he flashed an evil grin and took out a small bottle full of his green sand. "I have to admit, as much as I love the fear I instill in children, there's something about feeling the rabbit's hate that is just…refreshing and…addicting. I enjoy it much more than the boy's fear." Then without any hesitation, he shrank into the shadows with his faithful Nightmare alongside him transporting himself back to the Warren.

Within seconds, Pitch was back in the Easter Bunny's realm, and sure enough, they saw that the Warren was completely quiet. The eggs and the golems had retired for the night, and that could only mean that the Pooka was finally asleep as well. Pitch and the Nightmare slithered into the burrow through the shadows so that they were standing right over Bunny, who was sound asleep as they suspected. Wherever it was the Guardian of Hope went off to, it certainly made him more relaxed, which made this much easier for Pitch.

"Then again," Pitch whispered as he played with the black nightmare sand in his fingers, "there's nothing wrong with inducing just a touch of fear. After all…what you fear…becomes what you…hate." As he chuckled to himself, he bent down and circled the nightmare sand above Bunny's head.

The Boogeyman and his most faithful minion watched as Bunny's peaceful expression slowly turned into an expression of anguish and fear…just what Pitch had hoped for.

"I'm sure you remember that day as well as I do, Bunny," Pitch said watching in twisted glee as Bunny began to twitch trying to fight the nightmare. "All your friends…and family running…screaming in pain as each of them was slaughtered by my fearlings…especially…your little brother. Oh…how awful it was when you found him…"

"No…no…no…" Bunny moaned softly in his sleep as the harsh nightmare took over his mind…

* * *

E. Aster Bunnymund gasped as he surveyed the chaos that was once his village. It was incredible how quickly things could change in a matter of seconds. Within minutes, his village went up in smoke when these shadow creatures—fearlings as the Boogeyman called them—attacked, and as quickly as they came, they disappeared into the shadows with Pitch Black leaving the mess they created.

" _Aster!"_

Bunny gasped at the voice. He was hardly expecting to hear it in the midst of the dead silence that followed the attack, but perhaps…there was a sliver of hope despite the horror and devastation that occurred today.

" _Aster, help me!"_

" _I'm coming, ankle-biter! Hang on! I'm coming!"_

" _Aster, please! Hurry, big brother!"_

" _I'm coming!"_

Bunny ran through the burned village trying to follow the voice, and it seemed like he was getting closer to the source. However, it was hard to see through all the smoke. Nevertheless, the Pooka refused to give up hope and kept on running until…finally after what felt like an eternity, he found a figure lying in the middle of what was once their village…motionless.

"Aw, crikey!" Bunny yelled as he ran over to his little brother. "No! No!" He ran over to the smaller Pooka and picked him up cradling him in his arms and holding him close. "Hey, little ankle-biter, it's me…Aster." He gently patted his furry face hoping to wake him up, but there was no answer. "Come on, buddy, you got to wake up…please…"

Still no response came from the little Pooka in his arms, and Bunny felt his heart shatter as he hugged his little brother tightly…afraid to let him go. As the tears flowed, he sobbed in utter grief rocking his little brother…his ankle-biter back and forth. His home…his parents…his brother…his friends…all of them were _gone_ …because of the Boogeyman.

" _I hate you, Pitch!"_ Bunny shouted as he glared at the sky almost as if Pitch was watching. _"You hear me?! I HATE YOU! One day, I promise, I'll make you_ _ **pay**_ _!"_

* * *

Pitch sighed gleefully as he watched Bunny groan in agony and anger at his nightmare. "Oh, how I just love the smell of hatred— _pure_ hatred—at night," he said to himself. Then, he pulled out the vile of green sand and popped the cork allowing it to pour out. He swirled his fingers around playing with his newest creation, and thankfully, the Guardian of Hope had yet to stir, clearly still occupied by the Nightmare. The Boogeyman smiled an evil grin as he knelt down over the rabbit and directed the sand to a small cut deep under Bunny's fur. The cut was so small that nobody could've seen it…not even the Guardians or the yetis could see it.

The green sand slowly seeped into the cut, and as the slow stream flowed into Bunny's head…deep into his mind…his sub-consciousness, Pitch felt his strength deplete. The Boogeyman was never able to figure that part out—why he lost strength when using this new sand—but it didn't matter…not now. All he could focus on was Bunny's face scrunching up into one of pure rage…or rather hatred.

Quickly leaning on his loyal nightmare for support, Pitch slowly backed into the shadows with a vile containing just a little bit of the green sand leaving Bunny alone to this thoughts, and as soon as he left, Bunny's eyes snapped open…revealing cloudy green eyes.

* * *

Bunny's eyes snapped open as he heard something right above him distracting him from his mourning over his brother, and what he saw…was the last thing he was expecting to see. Shadowy figures…fearlings were floating over him looking down on him smiling evil grins, and even though the Pooka refused to admit it, seeing them sent chills down his spine, especially when they just attacked his village and…killed his brother.

They killed his brother…under their master's command, and at the moment…his grief and fear turned into hatred and utter rage. A red haze clouded his vision, but he didn't care. He was going to make these monsters pay for what happened.

He stood up glaring at the fearlings. _"You blokes did this!"_ Bunny shouted at the top of his lungs with his fur bristling. _"You killed my friends, my parents, and now my brother!"_

The figures didn't say or do anything, but the Pooka could've sworn they were somehow laughing at him. He clenched his teeth growling.

" _I'm going to make you pay!"_ With that, the Pooka and the fearlings lunged at each other commencing the battle.

* * *

Soon after Bunny, Tooth, and Sandy went back to their respective homes and jobs, Jack decided to head to Jaime's house to tell him about the trip while North caught up on what occurred over the past week in the workshop before heading to bed. The Guardian of Fun flew to Burgess hoping to catch his first believer before he went to bed within an hour, and he was a little disappointed to see that the window closed. Usually, that meant that the Last Light had fallen asleep before he could see him, but then again, maybe his mom made him close it. Sometimes, she did that.

However, he was jolted out of his thoughts when he finally landed on the boy's window sill and saw his first believer sitting up in bed wide awake. Usually, Jaime was wide awake waiting for him when he knew that they were going to have a late night chat, but…as he got a closer look, Jack couldn't help but notice that he looked…exhausted and upset over something. Was he grounded? No, usually he looked angry when his mom grounded him. This was something different.

So, Jack gently tapped on the glass to get Jaime's attention, and he couldn't help but notice how startled Jaime was when he looked up. Relief quickly covered fear once they made eye contact, and then the boy ran over to the window opening it for the Guardian of Fun.

"Jack!" Jamie practically shouted at the top of his lungs, but he quickly covered his mouth hoping he didn't wake up his mother or Sophie.

Jack chuckled at Jaime's embarrassment as he stepped into the room closing the window behind him. "Hey, kiddo," he said smiling, "missed me?"

"I sure did," Jaime said excitedly as they sat on his bed across from each other. "I can't believe you went camping with Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, _and_ the Sandman! You're so lucky!"

Jack chuckled again at the boy's excitement. "Yeah, it was pretty cool," he said. "I managed to get Bunny to ice-skate with me…and I beat him in a race."

Jaime couldn't help but laugh at the thought of Jack Frost and the Easter Bunny racing together…while ice-skating. "No way!" he said. "I would've paid all my Tooth Fairy money _and_ my allowance to see that!"

"I'll film it for you next time," Jack replied earning chuckles from the both of them. However, the Guardian of Fun fell silent when he noticed the bags under Jaime's brown eyes. "Hey…uh…are you okay, Jaime?"

Jaime furrowed his eyebrows together. "Uh…yeah…why?"

"Well, it's just…" he shrugged, "when I got here, you looked really out of it," Jack explained, "and…you look like you haven't slept in a while. Is there something going on?"

The Last Light's face fell as he looked at his hands breaking eye contact with his Guardian friend remembering what had happened the past week while Jack was away with the other Guardians. He wanted to tell the winter guardian what was going on, but was it really something that needed to be worried about? What if it wasn't what he believed it was? Then again, it had been bugging him and his friends for a whole week now. It couldn't hurt to talk to a Guardian about it.

"Jaime?"

He looked back up at the Guardian of Fun, who was still looking at him in concern.

"What's going on?" Jack asked.

Jaime finally sighed in defeat. Jack needed to know. "Okay, the thing is…" he began, "I've been having…nightmares."

The Guardian of Fun furrowed his eyebrows together as his jaw dropped slightly. This was not something he was expecting to hear. "Nightmares?"

Jaime nodded. "Yeah…for…for the past week now, and it wasn't just me. My friends had been having them too, and…they've been…pretty bad."

"H-How bad, buddy?"

"The guys didn't say much about theirs, but…mine usually involved y-you guys—the Guardians—getting hurt…badly."

Jack could only stare at the ten-year-old with widened blue eyes as he felt his stomach drop, he and his fellow Guardians had been busy having fun and bonding on their vacation…while Jaime, Pippa, Cupcake, the twins, and Monty were losing sleep over nightmares. Within a matter of seconds, the Guardian of Fun had a feeling as to who was responsible for invoking fear from the same children who helped to defeat him…but he had a feeling that there was something else that seemed to be eating the young boy sitting across from him.

"What is it, Jaime?" he asked. "There's more, isn't there?"

Jaime nodded slowly looking up at him with tired eyes. "One of these bad dreams I had…it…" sighed, "you…and Bunny were there…and Bunny was…attacking you. I remember trying to stop him, but he wasn't listening to me…and—"

"Hey, hey, Jaime, I want you to listen to me, okay?" Jack quickly said seeing how this was affecting his first believer. "They're just bad dreams, okay? You remember when I first told you that, right?"

The Last Light nodded remembering that disastrous Easter night when Pitch tried to unleash all his Nightmares on him, his friends, and the Guardians, and Jack turned to him telling that exact last sentence. It helped him realize that…there was nothing to be afraid of and that he could stand up to Pitch. He could still do it now with these bad dreams, and with that, he smiled and wrapped his arms around Jack's neck hugging him.

"Thanks, Jack," he said.

"Anytime, kiddo," Jack said returning the gesture before pulling away to look at Jaime. "In the meantime, I really hate to suddenly leave like this," he began as he stood up and picked up his staff from where he placed it, "but I'm going to get the other Guardians right now. We'll take care of everything and get to the bottom of this."

Jaime nodded. "Okay," he said, "and if it's Pitch, please be careful."

"You got it," Jack replied as he ruffled the boy's brunette hair and immediately ran to the window. "I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise. Try to get some sleep, too, okay?"

Jaime smiled. "Okay, good luck, Jack," he said waving while feeling his confidence and belief in the Guardians continue to grow within him.

"Thanks, Jaime," Jack replied before he took off through the window. "Wind, take me home to the Pole…quickly! We got some Guardian business!"

Within seconds, the Wind picked Jack up and brought him up into the night sky carrying him all the way back to his new home with as much speed as it could muster up. The Guardian of Fun knew what he had to do. He needed to get home and warn his adoptive father of the possibility that Pitch might be finally making a move and that it might be time for battle, and then they could get the others together. Then, they could finally find the Boogeyman and stop him from causing anymore harm to the children.

"Pitch…" Jack muttered under his breath as he flew back to the Pole, "if you're really behind this, you are in for a world of hurt."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** And that's CHAPTER 11, boys and girls! Things are going to go down real soon in the next two chapters! I decided to follow what the movie did with leaving Jack's sister nameless and leave Bunny's brother nameless. I might give him a name later…that is…depending on where this story goes, but we'll see.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you guys know that I will be going on vacation in a few days with my family and then the 4th of July is coming up, so Chapter 12 might take a little longer to come out. So if you don't see Chapter 12 in a couple of weeks, that's why. Other then that, CHAPTER 12 is next! I really hope you guys liked this one! Don't forget to keep those reviews, favorites and follows coming! Thanks again, you guys!


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note:** Hello, my faithful readers! I have returned from my vacation! AND…I managed to finish CHAPTER 12! I apologize for taking a while. I immediately started a new job as soon as I got back from vacation, so I had to put off typing this out for a bit. I was so excited that I managed to write it out while I was away! All I had to do was type it up once I got back, which I did, so I hope you all like it! Also, I was trying to plan out what will be happening in the next few chapters, and I noticed that we might have about 6-8 chapters left. I'm aiming for this to be about 18-20 chapters long, so we'll see. I know it's not as long as _Believe It_ , which was 30 chapters plus an epilogue, but I think that this is an appropriate length for this story. So, once I get a better idea as to what specific amount of chapters we have left I will give you guys the heads up. Anyway, before we move onto Chapter 12…REVIEW REPLIES!

 **RANDOM GUEST: Yay! Welcome back! Thanks, I'm really glad you like that! I wanted to bring it back to Pitch instilling nightmares in children, and Jaime was the best child to show it for that reason! Pitch knew that the Guardians would somehow find out what he was up to through Jaime and his friends. *turns to Pitch* I would listen, if I were you! Lol, I hope you continue to like the rest of the story!**

 **Serami Nefera: Yay! I'm glad you liked this one as well! Yes, you nailed it to T! While using Jaime's fear to regain some strength, he knew that this could help him get to the Guardians, and he took advantage of Jaime's connection to the Guardians. Plus, there is some foreshadowing, but I don't want to say what specifically yet! Hope you continue to enjoy the rest of the story.**

 **Guest: Lol! I'm so glad you found it and that you love it! Hope you continue to enjoy what's to come next!**

 **FrostedDragonHeart: Hmmm…we shall wait and see what happens, but I can tell you it won't be good. Lol, thank you so much! I'm really glad to know that it was heart-breaking for the readers just as it was for me writing and for Bunny! Lol don't worry I know what you meant. Thank you, my friend! I'm so happy you are enjoying it! And I hope you continue to like what's next!**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to** ** _Rise of the Guardians_** **.**

* * *

Chapter 12

The minute Jack landed in the workshop at the Pole, he immediately ran off to find North silently hoping that the Guardian of Wonder hadn't turned in for the night and was still in his office after he went to visit Jaime. This was certainly not what he imagined doing the night they returned from their vacation, but if the children were in danger of Pitch again, there was nothing that could stop the Guardians of Childhood from doing what they did best. He ran to North's office as fast as he could only to see that the doors were closed, so the winter spirit knocked.

Relief washed over him when he heard North giving him permission to enter, and he quickly opened the door only to see his adoptive father chipping away at an ice block.

"North, we've got a problem," Jack exclaimed, "a very big problem!"

"What is it, son?" North quickly asked sensing the urgency in Jack's voice.

"I think Pitch might be making a move," the youngest Guardian replied.

North widened his blue eyes at the mention of their archenemy and quickly dropped his tools. "Walk with me, talk with me," he said as he practically stormed out of his office with Jack in tow. "What happened? Did you see something in Burgess?"

"No, Jaime actually told me," Jack replied. "When I got there, the kid looked like he hadn't slept in a few days. So, he told me that he had been having nightmares for the past week, and they had been mostly about _us_."

"Us?" North repeated as they walked into his room where he opened his wardrobe and grabbed his furry hat, coat, and, of course, his two swords.

"Yeah," Jack responded as he followed North out of the room, "and it wasn't just him. His friends had been having them too. The kid even told me that he had one nightmare where…Bunny was…attacking _me_ …right in front of him."

"This is very serious," North said. "Pitch must be using little Jaime and friends' fears to regain strength. Go into the Globe Room and activate the lights to get the others. I'll go tell yetis to prepare sleigh and meet you there. We will leave for Burgess as soon as Tooth, Sandy, and Bunny arrive."

The winter spirit took off toward the Globe Room while the old man ran toward the stables. The boy ran through the Globe Room; unfortunately, due to him being inside, he couldn't call upon the Wind to help him get to the Globe of Belief quickly. With as much speed as he could muster up along with dodging the yetis and elves, Jack found the control panel.

Thankfully, North had showed him how to activate the lights, so he grabbed the handle with two hands, turned it, and pushed it down with as much strength as he could muster up.

* * *

"Oh my goodness, that's awful!" Tooth said as she placed her hands on her mouth in shock. "Is Jaime okay?"

"He looked pretty exhausted and shaken up," Jack replied. As soon as Tooth and Sandy arrived, he and North took their turns to explain the situation Jack encountered with Jaime when he visited Burgess. "I told him we were going to take care of this and figure out what's going on."

"Of course, we will," Tooth added nodding quickly.

Sandy reinforced this statement with a sandy scenario of the five of them standing defensively in front of Jaime and his friends.

North couldn't help but widen his eyes slightly when he noticed the five of them in Sandy's picture, and then he furrowed his bushy eyebrows as he surveyed the area in the workshop when he noticed that there was one particular Guardian of Hope who was peculiarly quiet throughout the entire ordeal. That, and…even worse, as North surveyed the workshop, there was no sign of him in the workshop.

"North, what's wrong?" Jack asked.

"Has anyone seen Bunny come in?" North asked.

Jack, Tooth, and Sandy furrowed their eyebrows together as well once they realized what North realized. They had been waiting for Bunny to show up so that they could go to Burgess and find Pitch, but…he never did. Neither one of them remembered hearing him make his entrance through one of his tunnels.

"I-I…no…no, I didn't hear him," Tooth said as panic grew. "Jack, Sandy?"

"Me neither," Jack replied as Sandy shook his head. When Tooth and Sandy first arrived, they all wondered where Bunny was when they met North and Jack in the Globe Room and if they should've waited for him, but North insisted that Jack went ahead and briefed them while they waited for Bunny. They never heard him come in, and he surely would've made his presence known to his fellow Guardians.

"Aw man…I don't think he ever showed up," Jack said with a worried expression looking for any signs of the 6'1" Pooka.

"Why wouldn't he show up?" Tooth asked.

Sandy reinforced their shared curiosity and worry by depicting a golden question mark above his head. Then he flashed a sandy scenario of the Northern Lights and Bunny with his back to them completely unaware of them.

"Nonsense, Bunny would never not notice lights," North said waving his hand. "Something must be wrong."

"Maybe Pitch attacked him again," Tooth said with her amethyst eyes widened in horror.

"We're not going to get anything accomplished by standing here and twiddling our thumbs," North said with a determined look on his face as he pulled a snowglobe out of his pocket. "Jack, take this and get to the Warren," he added giving it to his adoptive son.

"You're sending Jack to check it out _alone_?" Tooth asked. "What if Pitch really is somehow involved?"

North knew that Tooth had a point. After the Nightmare Prince incident, the Guardian of Wonder had confided in the Guardian of Memories that he hated the idea of Jack being anywhere near Pitch when he was imprisoned in Sandy's cocoon in the Warren. Now, he was about to send his boy to the Warren alone when there was a possibility that Pitch was there.

"Tooth, don't worry," Jack began jolting North out of his thoughts. "I'll be fine. It might be nothing serious and Bunny will just tell me he didn't see them." He knew that couldn't be it, but there was no way of knowing for sure. "If it helps you feel better, why don't one of you just come with me?"

"We'll _all_ go," North finally said, "just in case."

Jack, Tooth, and Sandy nodded in agreement, and with that, Jack whispered their intended destination into the snowglobe and threw it creating a portal. The four out of the five Guardians ran in without any hesitation and quickly found themselves in Bunny's Warren, but once they arrived, the sight before them was not what they expected to see, which was clear once Tooth let out a horrified gasp.

The Warren has been attacked. The trees had branches that seemed to have been broken off. The ground was torn up, and…there were broken eggshells scattered everywhere. The egg golems were nowhere to be found, and…neither was the Guardian of Hope.

"Shostakovich!" North whispered under his breath as they all surveyed the damage.

Sandy depicted an exclamation mark above his mark to emphasize his shock at the current status of their fellow Guardian's home. Speaking of which, the Sandman's worry increased tenfold when he realized that the Easter Bunny was still nowhere to be found, so he quickly turned to face North, Jack, and Tooth with an image of a magnifying glass.

"Sandy's right!" Tooth practically shouted. "We got to find Bunny! He might be hurt!"

"Come on!" Jack said as he ran ahead of them not wanting to waste any more time then they had to. "Bunny! Bunny, where are you?"

"Jack, wait, stay close!" North said as he, Tooth, and Sandy ran to catch up with the boy.

"Bunny!" Jack shouted looking around trying to find any sign of the Pooka.

"Bunny!" Tooth shouted at the top of her lungs as she fluttered her wings as fast as she could to catch up to Jack. "Bunny, answer us!"

"Where are you?!" North added as they looked all around and so far had no luck in locating the Guardian of Hope.

However, after what felt like an eternity, Jack propped himself on the top of his staff again to try to get a bird's eye view. Thankfully, Tooth was beside him searching from the air while North and Sandy checked from the ground. Silence fell upon the Warren for a few minutes until Jack finally noticed something in the grass, as he squinted his blue eyes and gasped when he saw a bundle of blue and grey fur lying on the ground motionless.

"Bunny!" he shouted. "Guys, I found him! He's over there!" He pointed in the direction he was looking in allowing the others to follow his lead.

Tooth gasped yet again before zooming over to their fellow Guardian. "Bunny, thank goodness!" she cried with relief. "We—" she gasped yet again once she got a closer look at the Pooka. "Oh no! Bunny!"

"Are you okay, Cottontail?" Jack shouted as he followed Tooth and immediately ran to Bunny's side while North and Sandy were not too far behind in joining them.

There was no answer from the unconscious Guardian prompting the Guardian of Fun to shake his shoulder hoping to awaken the Pooka.

"Bunny!" Jack shouted. "Bunny, come on, wake up! Cottontail, come on! Wake up!" There was still no answer from Bunny, which only made Jack more nervous. "Is he-?"

"Let me see, Sweet Tooth," Tooth said quickly before Jack could even get the last word out. She turned the Pooka over on his back and placed her head on his chest taking a moment to listen for any signs to prove that the Pooka was still alive. "He's alive, just knocked out! He must've been fighting whatever…or whoever attacked this place!"

"Quickly, then, let's get back to Pole!" North shouted as he took out yet another snowglobe after picking Bunny up and putting him over his shoulder. Soon enough, all the Guardians made it through promising to find out what happened later.

* * *

A few hours passed since the Guardians once again brought Bunny back to the Pole, and…again, Bunny seemed to be in perfect health…with the exception of cuts and bruises all over his fur. The Guardians of Wonder, Memories, Dreams, and Fun were still puzzled as to why their comrade seemed fine but ended up unconscious in the middle of his Warren. All they knew at the moment as they waited for him to wake up in the infirmary was that there were two problems at hand: Bunny being possibly injured and the children in Burgess having nightmares possibly instilled by Pitch. Were they somehow connected? Why didn't Bunny call for help when the Warren was attacked? Why wasn't Bunny showing signs of Pitch attacking him? Why would Pitch attack the Warren? Why attack the Warren _and_ instill nightmares in innocent children?

"North, I hate to leave you and Jack like this," Tooth began when Bunny was still unconscious, "but…Sandy and I—we—"

"Say no more, Toothy," North said smiling as he cut her off. "With Pitch going around and giving children nightmares, we need you and Sandy now more than ever. Jack and I can keep watch over Bunny here; you go and do your jobs. I only ask that you be careful and come for us if you see or hear anything."

"Of course," Tooth replied nodding, "we'll keep you posted. Activate the lights when Bunny wakes up."

"We will," Jack said smiling at the Tooth Fairy.

She smiled at both of them before she and Sandy said their goodbyes and left Jack and North alone with Bunny.

Not long after the Guardians of Memories and Dreams left the Pole to tend to their respective jobs, the Guardians of Wonder and Fun were jolted out of their thoughts when they heard movement from the bed followed by a groan. They looked up and noticed the Guardian of Hope opening his green eyes.

"North, he's waking up!" Jack said as they practically ran over to the bed with huge smiles on their faces.

"J-Jack?" Bunny said groggily as he tried to study the blurred faces looking down on him. "N-North?"

"Hello, my friend," North said calmly smiling even though he was mentally performing the Russian jig. "Welcome back."

"We were worried about you, buddy," Jack said. "How do you feel?"

"Ugh…" Bunny groaned as he rubbed his head, "feel like I've been hit by North's sleigh…or one of Pitch's nightmare. What happened to me?"

"You tell us," North replied. "We were the ones who found you in the Warren passed out."

"We sent up the lights to call you, Tooth, and Sandy, and you never showed up," Jack added. "We came to check up on you, and we found the Warren attacked and y—"

"Wait a minute, what?!"

Jack and North furrowed their eyebrows together as they looked at each other and then back at Bunny.

"The Warren, Bunny," Jack began slowly, "it was a complete mess. Looked like someone attacked it."

"What are you talking about? The Warren was never attacked. I was there the whole night sleeping. No one attacked, and if they did, I would've known about it."

"But we…we saw you… You were passed out in the middle of the fields," Jack stated growing confusion and worry.

"Are you off your rocker, Frostbite?" Bunny asked. "I was in my burrow sleeping all night… At least I was when I went to sleep before I woke up in here. My Warren couldn't have been attacked because I was sleeping and I obviously would've noticed."

North and Jack were at a complete loss for words hearing the Pooka speak. It was almost as if to Bunny, nothing happened. How did he end up moving from his burrow to the middle of the Warren without any knowledge?

* * *

 **Author's Note:** YAY ANOTHER CHAPTER DONE! I really hope you guys liked this one! We shall see how North and Jack handle this predicament with Bunny…in CHAPTER 13, and I will do my best to get it up as soon as I can. Anyway, don't forget to leave a review! Thanks again, guys! I'll see you in the next chapter!


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note:** *crashes in on a wrecking ball* I'M BACK! OMG…guys…I am so…so…SO sorry for taking so long to update this story! A lot has happened since I last updated…in…July… *nervous laughter* Well, you guys knew I was starting a job, so that has been taking up a lot of my time, and…I'm not going to lie…I had a bit of writer's block…between being so busy…and not having time to write…it got difficult. Then when I tried to update back in October, I had a bad case of strep throat and was out sick for three days. So…yeah…not to mention, I had been dealing with my grandmother passing away at the end of October.

BUT…I am back! With an update! However, with my busy schedule at work, these updates…are definitely going to be a "whenever-I-can" basis. I know I used to update weekly, but I'm letting you guys know now that these updates will be more spread out. That's not to say I'm abandoning the story. That will never happen! I just need to set aside time to make this story as enjoyable for you guys as I can. Now, enough of that, before we move on to CHAPTER 13…here are some REVIEW REPLIES!

 **Layla206: Thank you so so much for your kind words! I'm so glad you're enjoying the story and hope you continue to do so!**

 **Sofie Rose: Yes, it's brotherly love story! You had Jack/North father/son cuteness in "Believe It," and now you get Bunny/Jack brother cuteness! I think that after events of the movie and "Believe It," Bunny and Jack's friendship is the next one to solidify given their rivalry in the beginning and their backstories. You'll have to wait and see what happens, but thank you for the suggestion! I think you'll like what's coming!**

 **Mikayla Elwood: No worries at all! Thank you for your very kind words, and I am so glad you really like the story! I hope you like what's coming next! I appreciate the ideas. However, at this point, Pitch isn't really trying to get Jack back. He's kind of given up on using him since he no longer sees Jack as the vulnerable broken boy that he was in the move, and Bunny is sort of getting more focus in this story. You will see that as we continue on. Maybe I will use your ideas in another story, just not right now. Thank you again, and I really do hope that you will continue to love this story!**

 **Frosted Dragon Heart: YAY! I'm so glad you like it! I really hope you love what's next!**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to** _ **Rise of the Guardians**_ **.**

 **Also…I would like to dedicate this chapter to my late grandmother, who died a few months ago. She helped me write my first story when I was just a kid, and she always loved it when I wrote or drew pictures for her. I love you, Grandma!**

* * *

Chapter 13

"Are you kidding me?" Jack asked incredulously. "Bunny, if you think we're going to believe that, you must really think we're idiots."

"How is it that you have no idea what happened in the Warren?" North added just as shocked as Jack was.

"Look, I told you blokes," Bunny said getting more and more agitated by the second. It was one thing to be told that your home was practically destroyed, and you're not entirely sure how you missed it, but it was another to have two of your comrades try to convince you that something happened to your home. "I don't know. I don't know how my Warren was probably attacked, okay? I really don't know!"

North's face fell as soon as he saw Bunny's agitation, and guilt formed within his belly. "Uh…Jack, why don't we just leave Bunny to rest?" the Guardian of Wonder finally suggested.

"Huh?" Jack asked turning to him with a confused look. "But what about—"

"We'll deal with it later when our friend is well rested," he replied as he gently began to usher the winter teen out of the room. "Right now, let's let him get some sleep."

Jack sighed as he looked at the former Cossack and then at the Pooka, and it was then that the boy realized just how exhausted Bunny looked. Whatever was going on with him was certainly taking a toll on him physically, so with that in mind, the Guardian of Fun finally nodded complying with North's request.

North sighed in relief that his agreed with him, and as he began to lead Jack out of the infirmary, he turned to the Guardian of Hope.

"I'll have some yetis stationed outside your room," North said to him. "If you need anything just let them know."

"Right," Bunny replied. "I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, mate."

The ex-Cossack smiled and closed the door, and then he turned to the two yetis standing in the hall. "Jack and I will be in the Globe Room," he said to them. "Make sure you bring our friend, Bunny whatever he needs."

The two yetis garbled in affirmation and took their positions on either side of the door as North led Jack away from the infirmary toward the Globe Room.

"This is exactly what happened a couple weeks ago," Jack began as they walked into the Globe Room, "and it looks like it's gotten worse."

"If it led to Bunny passing out in the middle of his Warren," North began as he put on his red coat, "then I agree. No more waiting or seeing what happens, we must get to the bottom of this, and if he's not going to give us any useful information, then we need to get back to his Warren and look around."

"My thoughts exactly," Jack said with the determination ringing in his voice. "Let's go!"

"We will, my boy, " North said as they walked over to the control panel and activated the lights, "but first, we need to get Tooth and Sandy and to fill them in. They can help yetis watch Bunny."

"You're not going to have them come with us?" Jack asked.

"It's best that they stay here," North replied. "If Bunny sees that we're all gone, he might get suspicious."

The winter teen nodded.

* * *

Once Tooth and Sandy returned to the Pole and were filled in on what happened agreeing to watch Bunny, Jack and North used one of North's many snowglobes to return to the realm of the Easter Bunny.

"Let's check out where we found Bunny," North immediately said.

Jack nodded and immediately led North to where they found the Pooka lying down passed out in the grass near the burrow. The Guardian of Wonder knelt down and inspected the impression Bunny's body left in the grass as well as the footprints.

"Hmm…strange…" he muttered under his breath scanning the footprints.

"What?" Jack asked as he crouched down across from North.

"Look at the ground." North pointed to the footprints in the grass. "You can see Bunny's footprints, and it certainly looked like he was fighting something or someone."

Jack furrowed his eyebrows together as he studied the ground. He and the others were so focused on helping Bunny when they found him that none of them bothered to study the scene, but now that he and North finally had a chance to take a look at what possibly happened, he widened his blue eyes. "But…there are no other footprints or any signs of someone else being here…"

"Exactly."

"So, if there wasn't anyone else here…then who attacked the Warren? There's no way Bunny imagined this."

"Let's look around. Maybe there's a clue that we haven't seen yet."

The two Guardians split up to look around for more clues in other sections of the Warren. It took about an hour before they met up with each other again near where Bunny was found.

"I couldn't find anything useful except for Bunny's poor broken eggs and trees that had branches that looked like they were sliced off," Jack exclaimed with frustration.

"So did I," North replied. "No signs of anything that shouldn't be in the Warren."

Little did either of the winter Guardians know…there was something creeping in the bushes behind them…watching them.

"This is crazy!" Jack cried. "We've been looking around for a whole hour, and no leads!"

North could easily empathize with Jack's frustration as he himself felt the exact same way. So far, he and Jack found little to no answers, and their one witness claimed to have no memory of what happened. However, being the leader, he knew that they would get absolutely nothing done if they both let their frustrations get to them.

"Calm down, Jack," he finally said. "We'll find something."

The Guardian of Fun was about to respond when he heard what sounded like a twig snapping behind him. "Did you hear something?" he asked aloud as he turned around.

North followed Jack's gaze when they began to hear rustling from one of the bushes nearby. "Whatever it is…it's coming from that bush," he said placing his hands on his swords, ready to unsheathe them.

"This might be our guy," Jack whispered to North as he took a few steps back away with his staff in front of him.

"Only one way to find out," North added as he finally unsheathed his swords silently daring the mysterious being to even try attacking them. "Get ready, son!"

Jack immediately followed suit and got into his battle stance. However, a part of him was expecting Sophie, Jaime's little sister to suddenly show up similar to how she snuck into the Warren on Easter Sunday a few months ago, but that was impossible. Jack had been the only one to visit Jaime, Sophie, and their friends after he became a Guardian, and he had been extra-careful in making sure neither of the kids accidentally stumbled into the other realms of the other Guardians. His thoughts were interrupted when…a small egglet jumped out of the bush looking up at them.

"Oh no…" Jack said with a deadpan expression on his face, "back, evil egg…back…" He mentally noted the cracks the poor egg endured from whatever had occurred in the Warren.

North let out a boisterous laugh as he put his swords back into their scabbards. "Sorry, little one," he said to the egg. "We didn't know it was you."

The egglet seemed to recognize its master's fellow Guardians and began to jump around frantically as if it was trying to communicate something…leaving Jack and North in a complete state of confusion.

"What's it doing?" Jack asked as he bent down to get a closer look at the egg.

"I think it's trying to tell us something," North replied as he himself studied the egg as well.

"Maybe it's trying to tell us who attacked the Warren," the Guardian of Fun mused. "What is it, little guy? Do you know who did this?"

The egglet tried to reply, but unfortunately without a mouth, it was resorted to jumping and moving about as if trying to act out what happened. Although, this left Jack feeling completely useless. He was able to communicate with North's yetis, Tooth's fairies, and Sandy, and yet he could not communicate with Bunny's egglets.

"Uhh…are you catching any of this?" Jack asked North.

"Nope, I thought you were," the big man replied.

Jack couldn't help but chuckle at his adoptive father's comment. "Okay, this isn't getting us anywhere," he finally said, "but I think I know what we can do." He then turned to the little egg. "Here's the deal little guy. We're going to ask you some questions, and I want you to tap your foot twice for 'yes' and once for 'no.'"

The egg tapped its foot twice.

Jack smiled and turned to North. "I think he gets it," he said. "Okay, first question: did someone attack the Warren?"

The egg tapped two times.

"Was it Pitch?" North asked quickly in concern.

 _Tap!_

"Okay, so it wasn't Pitch," Jack said pondering over what they discovered so far. "That would explain why we didn't see any nightmare sand." He then turned back to the egglet again. "Did you recognize the intruder?"

 _Tap! Tap!_

Jack and North widened their eyes slightly at the egg's answer.

"So…it wasn't Pitch…but it was still someone this egglet recognized," Jack mused.

"Which means…it was someone we knew as well…" North added while stroking his bearded chin. "We're starting to get somewhere. I just wish there was a way we can ask who did it."

"Yeah, if we keep asking yes/no questions," Jack replied, "we're going to be here all day." Then out of the corner of his eye, the Guardian of Fun spotted some jars sitting in the grass near a paint river, and an idea came to him. He quickly ran over, picked one up, and filled it with paint from the river. "Okay, new game, little guy! You're going to draw a picture of the guy who did this. Got it?"

 _Tap! Tap!_

Jack carefully picked up the little egg so that it could dip his foot into the paint. Once Jack set the little egg down, it got to work and painted the picture as he could with his foot on a nearby rock. It took a couple minutes, but when the drawing was finally finished, the egglet stepped aside allowing the two Guardians to see it.

As soon as the egglet allowed them to see the picture, both Jack and North immediately widened their eyes as they recognized the figure.

"I-Is that…Bunny?" North asked in shock and confusion.

 _Tap! Tap!_

Their eyes weren't deceiving them. The egglet drew an outline of their master, and Jack felt his stomach drop down realizing what this egglet was accusing the Pooka of.

"Y-You're saying that…that Bunny… _our_ Bunny did…this?!" Jack asked.

Much to his and North's dismay, the egglet tapped his foot…twice.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Dun…Dun…DUUUUNNNN! Oh boy…things are really going to get heated in the next chapter! Want to find out what happens? Then stick around for…CHAPTER 14! I will do my best to get it up on this site soon! I really hope you all enjoyed that! This was definitely one of my favorite chapters to write because of the Jack/North interactions! I don't know why, but I always love seeing characters strategize and talk to each other.

Anyway, again, I really hope you all enjoyed that! Don't forget to leave a review, favorite and/or follow! Thanks again, guys!


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note:** Hey, guys! I'm back with…CHAPTER 14! So…we officially might have about 5 more chapters to go in this story (it might be expanded a little but we will have to see), and things are heating up! Now we are going to dive further into what Jack and North just discovered in the Warren! Before we get to that…REVIEW REPLIES!

 **KitoH: Ahhhh! OMG thank you so much for your reviews on all 13 chapters! I really appreciate it, and I hope you continue to like the story! Also thanks for leaving my 50** **th** **review on this story on Chapter 10.**

 **PhoenixFirre: Thank you so so much! I always try to keep them in character as much as possible, especially when it comes to their bond as a family. I'm really glad you enjoy it, and really hope you continue to enjoy the rest of it.**

 **FrostedDragonHeart: You'll have to read the next chapter to find out! Lol! Thank you so much for understanding! And I really hope you like what comes next!**

 **Sofie Rose: AHHHH YOU'RE SO WELCOME! Thank you so much for your kind words! I hope you continue to like what comes next!**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to** _ **Rise of the Guardians**_ **.**

* * *

Chapter 14

"This doesn't make sense!" Jack exclaimed as he paced back and forth while North watched. "Why would Bunny do this to his own home? That's like you doing damage to the Pole or Tooth destroying her palace! It's just not right!"

Once again, North knew that the boy was right. This didn't make any sense at all. The egglet certainly wouldn't lie and wrongfully accuse its own master, but Bunny wouldn't just go on a rampage in his Warren and then pretend that it didn't happen. However, that still didn't explain the events that just unfolded. Something was very wrong with Bunny.

"I know," he replied, "but I don't think anyone can make this stuff up, Jack. We didn't find anything that could prove it was someone else, and this egg made it clear he saw Bunny."

"But…something's still not adding up, North," the Guardian of Fun replied as he stopped pacing to look at his adoptive father. "What could possibly drive him to do something like this? What could possibly drive him to act the way he's been acting?"

"I don't know, my boy," North said walking over to Jack, "but I do know that we will get to the bottom of this. If I was able to save you from Pitch's influence, I'm pretty sure we can figure what's running through ol' Bunny's head."

Jack smiled at his adoptive father, and he was about to respond with some newfound confidence in his voice when suddenly…the egglet began to run away back into the bushes. "Hey, where are you going, little guy?!"

"It saw something," North whispered as he surveyed the surrounding area.

"What?" Jack asked.

"I'm not sure," the Guardian of Wonder replied, "but he clearly saw something in this direction."

"Maybe, it's another egg wandering around," Jack said as he looked around.

"I don't think so, Jack," North replied as he readied his swords again still looking around. He himself was getting a feeling that they were being watched. "Show yourself!"

Both Guardians got into their stances, ready to face whoever it was approaching them. Within seconds, a blue and grey blur emerged from behind the trees right in front of North and Jack. Thankfully, North and Jack immediately recognized who it was and relaxed.

"Oh, is just you, Bunny," North said breathing a sigh of relief.

"Phew! You gave us a bit of a scare there, Cottontail," Jack added with a smile. "What are you doing here? You should be resting at the Pole."

However…Bunny did not answer them. Instead, he remained in a crouching position snarling at his fellow Guardians like a wild animal about to attack. North furrowed his eyebrows together when he noticed this, and the uneasiness returned.

"Uh…Bunny?" he asked carefully. "Are you alright?"

Bunny did not answer as he continued to snarl at North and Jack.

"Look, if you're mad that we're here, we're sorry," Jack finally said as he himself became a little wary of Bunny's odd behavior. "We're just trying to figure out what's been going on with you."

* * *

Bunny stared at the two shadow figures…the Nightmare Men as Pitch called them…and growled at them. These creatures were responsible for killing his little brother, and now they were going to pay dearly…

* * *

"Cottontail, can you stop looking at us like you're going to attack us?" Jack asked as he took a step back. "You're really freaking me out right now."

"Get…out of my…home!" Bunny growled before pouncing.

"Jack, move!" North shouted as he quickly pulled his boy out of the way causing Bunny to land on the grass completely missing them.

"What the heck was that for?!" Jack shouted at Bunny once North released him from his grip. "We're trying to help you!"

Bunny turned to face them again snarling still. "You blokes and your master are finished!" he shouted.

"What?" Jack asked as he gripped onto his staff. He couldn't help but feel that Bunny's words sounded all too familiar to him. However, it was hard to figure out why when one of their fellow Guardians was looking like he was ready to attack them again. "Bunny, it's just us! North and Jack! We're your friends!"

"Jack, he can't be reasoned with right now!" North shouted as he readied his swords again. "We must fight! We can solve this later!" If they could find a way to subdue the Pooka, they could snap him out of this and find out what was going on with him.

"But—" Before Jack could add anything, the Guardian of Hope took out some of his trusty egg bombs and threw them at the Guardians of Wonder and Fun causing them to explode thus forcing the two winter Guardians to fall backwards against the trees behind them.

"Nghh…Jack…are you alright?" North asked as he sat up rubbing his back trying to relieve himself of the pain from the impact.

"Never better…agh…" Jack replied as he struggled to sit up as well. He looked up and gasped when he saw Bunny still standing in front of them. The winter teen couldn't help but notice that Bunny's eyes looked lifeless…cloudy, but that thought was also quickly forced out of his mind when he noticed that Bunny picked up one of North's swords after the old man dropped them. "Uhhh…North?"

* * *

Bunny smirked to himself as he watched the two Nightmare Men in the red haze fell backwards due to his egg bombs exploding and struggled to get back up. They were weakened. This was it! He finally had them right where he wanted them. He could finally make Pitch and his minions pay for what they had done to his race, friends, and family, especially his little brother. There was no way Pitch could understand the pain of losing a loved one, but he could still hit the Boogeyman where it hurt…his minions.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a sword…one that clearly belonged to them, and his smirk grew wider as he picked it up.

"I'm going to enjoy this!" he said as he began to slowly…walk toward one of the Nightmare Men.

* * *

"I'm going to enjoy this!" Bunny suddenly said as he began to walk toward them…with one of North's swords in his hand.

"Bunny…put that sword down…" North said in a warning tone as he slowly tried to stand up with his back against the tree. However, it was hard to do when the pain aggravated the wound in his stomach and when his other sword was still lying down in the grass too far from him to reach. His heart pounded when he realized that Bunny…was walking right toward clearly planning to kill him first. "Bunny…Bunny, stop!"

North's words fell on deaf ears as the Pooka persisted ready to strike against the former Cossack. However…just as Bunny was a few inches away from him, a blur of blue and white suddenly plowed into Bunny forcing him to the ground away from North.

"Jack!" the Guardian of Wonder shouted as he watched his adoptive son and oldest friend tumbling over each other in the grass…until finally…Bunny landed on top of Jack with the sword clutched in his hand. He moved to help Jack, but quickly bent over when the pain in his stomach was aggravated.

" _No…NO! Not now…must help Jack!"_ he thought to himself.

* * *

There was a brief moment of shock as Bunny was suddenly tackled to the ground by a blur of black. He didn't have time to berate himself for letting the other minion overcome him when he was so close to eliminating his friend. However, fortunately, for him, he managed to overpower the Nightmare Man and pin him… _it_ to the ground.

"Fine…I'll just finish you first!" he shouted as he brought the sword down toward the shadow creature's chest only to be stopped when his target grabbed his arm trying to fight him. However, Bunny refused to give up. He held down its other arm with his free hand as he struggled with the other hand trying to eliminate the Nightmare Man.

* * *

Before Jack could even blink, Bunny was on top of him pinning him to the ground, and he mentally kicked himself for dropping his staff before he tackled the Pooka. It wasn't what he was hoping would happen, but at least, he stopped the Guardian of Hope from killing his adoptive father. However, that didn't change the fact that the Pooka still had one of North's swords in his hand, and he was about to bring it down on Jack.

"Fine…I'll finish you first!" Bunny shouted as he brought the sword down toward Jack.

The Guardian of Fun quickly gripped Bunny's arm to stop him, but the Pooka continued to struggle against him, clearly adamant about finishing the job.

" C-Cottontail…s-stop!" Jack said through clenched teeth as he struggled to keep the sword away from his chest. "I-It's me…Jack!"

* * *

Bunny growled as he struggled against the Nightmare Man's cold grip. He refused to stop until the sword went straight through his shadowy body.

"You and your master…are finished!" Bunny said through clenched teeth.

* * *

Jack could see their arms shaking from the struggle. Now that he was facing Bunny up close, Jack again noticed how Bunny's eyes looked cloudy…and lifeless. He mentally noted that Bunny couldn't have been acting on his own free will. Something was messing with him mentally. That had to be it. Unfortunately, he had no time to put more thought into it as Bunny made another attempt to bring the sword down on his chest, but thankfully, Jack continued to resist.

"You and your master…are finished!" Bunny said through clenched teeth.

"What…?" Jack whispered.

Bunny gave one last push to try to drive that sword toward Jack's chest, but he refused to let Bunny go through with it. He tried to kick Bunny off him, but the Pooka was too strong and far too heavy.

"BUNNY!" Jack shouted as they struggled. "BUNNY STOP! IT'S ME, JACK! NORTH, HELP ME!"

As soon as he heard his boy's cries for help, North wasted no time in running over to the struggling Guardians. He grabbed Bunny by the arm that held the sword and around the waist trying to pull the Pooka off Jack without causing Jack harm. "BUNNY, GET OFF HIM!" he shouted in his Russian accent as the Pooka struggled in his grip. "STOP THIS!"

"BUNNY, STOP!" Jack continued. "SNAP OUT OF IT! BUNNY!"

Within seconds, Bunny blinked, and his arm froze in Jack and North's grip. Jack watched as the Pooka's eyes cleared from the cloudiness, and he couldn't help but feel confused, as Bunny seemed to actually snap out of it.

"Frostbite?" Bunny asked as he noticed that he was on top of Jack with a sword in his hand…one of North's swords. It didn't take him much longer to realize that someone was grabbing him from behind and holding him tightly. "North…w-what's going on?"

"You tell us," North replied as he slowly pulled Bunny away from Jack allowing the boy to stand up and slowly releasing the Pooka when he was assured that Bunny wouldn't try to attack them. "You follow us here and just attacked us. You were about to kill Jack!"

"What?" Bunny asked in shock as he absentmindedly dropped North's sword. "No…no, I wasn't! I would never do that to you blokes! Why would you think that?!"

"Well, when someone usually holds a sword over you trying to stab you," North began as he subtly held out his arm in front of Jack, "it usually doesn't mean that they want to play, especially when they just destroyed their own home!"

Bunny's green eyes widened in shock as he took another step back. He couldn't believe what he was hearing from his fellow Guardians…his friends. Within a minute, the winter guardians had accused him of attacking them…and destroying his home. He looked around his beloved Warren surveying the damage, and his heart immediately broke. The Pooka was unconscious and therefore did not get to see the damage that Jack and North initially claimed had been done, and now that he was seeing all of it for the first time—the broken eggs, the sliced off branches, the overturned cans of paint—he couldn't believe it… It was Easter Sunday all over again, but now…his own friends were accusing _him_ of causing it.

He finally turned back to North and Jack glaring at them. "Y-You think…you think _I_ did this?" he asked.

Jack's face fell. He knew all too well what it felt like to have someone to accuse you of something, so he hated that they were even having this conversation with the Guardian of Hope. "Well…" he sighed scratching the back of his neck awkwardly, "…okay, look, it's not that we think—I mean…" he sighed again running a hand through his white hair.

"Spit it out, Frost!" Bunny suddenly shouted making Jack jump.

"One of your eggs…told us that they saw you do this," North said trying to take some of the pressure off his boy.

Bunny scoffed. "So that's it," he said. "You're just going to believe whatever a little egg tells you?!"

"Well…Bunny, w-we wouldn't have believed it," North replied, "but…we…we couldn't find any evidence of anyone else, who might've been here."

"Look we know you wouldn't do this on purpose," Jack added, "but there's obviously something going on with you, especially with the way you just acted right now."

"Yeah, well, guess what, Jack!" Bunny retorted. "There's nothing going on with me, so you can just end your little investigation and go."

"But, Bunny—" North tried to say.

"LEAVE! GET OUT! NOW!" the Pooka shouted causing both North and Jack to jump from his outburst.

"Cottontail…" Jack tried to say.

"DON'T COTTONTAIL ME! JUST GO! NOW!"

Before either of the winter guardians could say any more, the Pookan guardian hopped away without looking at either of them leaving them in a stunned silence.

As much as it pained North to leave their fellow Guardian, he took out his snowglobe and whispered their intended destination and throwing it creating a portal to appear.

"Come, Jack," North finally said. "Let's go home."

Instead of answering, Jack looked in the direction in which Bunny went. He wanted more than anything to go find the Pooka and to talk to him, but…after what just happened, he silently agreed with North. Bunny needed some time alone to cool off, and as the youngest Guardian stepped through the portal, he could only hope that Bunny would do just that.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Well…that didn't go very well…at all… Don't worry, North and Jack aren't admitting defeat yet. Be on the look out for CHAPTER 15 to see how they handle this! Don't forget to leave review/follow/favorite!

I was originally going to have North act a little more aggressive toward Bunny once he snapped out of his episode as he defended Jack from Bunny to the point where he yelled at him and pointed a sword at him, but thinking back on how he reacted when Jack told him about what happened before they left, I kind of felt that would've been a little OOC for him seeing as how he was aware of Bunny's behavior and is very concerned for him. He loves Jack as a son and wants to protect him, but he also wants to help Bunny.

Anyway, that's all for now! Really hoped you liked this chapter! See you in the next one, guys!


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note:** Hello, hello, everyone! I AM BACK…WITH CHAPTER 15! So, we're going to see what North and Jack do with what they saw in the Warren and what happened at the Pole when Tooth and Sandy were watching Bunny. Bunny will be back in the next chapter! Now, before we go on to reading this chapter…REVIEW REPLIES!

 **FrostedDragonHeart: Ahhhhh! Thank you so so much! I'm really glad you liked this chapter and that you loved this story! Thank you so so much for sticking with me this whole time! Yes, they are finally beginning to put the pieces together, and we shall see what comes next! I hope you continue to enjoy this story!**

 **Sofie Rose: I know! Poor Bunny and Jack, indeed! I really appreciate your kind words, and I hope you continue to enjoy this story and what comes next! Thanks! I hope I portrayed him well enough in that situation!**

 **KitoH: Awwww! Yes, they both need to hug it out when this is over! Hope you like what comes next!**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to** _ **Rise of the Guardians**_ **.**

* * *

Chapter 15

Within seconds, the Guardians of Wonder and Fun landed back in the workshop in the Pole, and both were less than content when the portal immediately closed behind them.

"I hate that we just left him," Jack finally said after a moment of silence staring at his bare feet.

"I do too, my boy," North replied wrapping an arm around Jack's shoulders, "but, not to worry, we will go back and find him later. He just needs to let off some steam."

"Yeah…I guess," Jack replied placing his hand on North's. "Maybe…in an hour…we can—"

"North! Jack!" a female voice shouted after the doors to the Globe Room opened. Sure enough, Tooth flew into the room with Sandy in tow. "Thank goodness, you're back! Have you seen Bunny?! Did he go back to the Warren?!"

"Uhh…yeah…he came back to the Warren, we…kind of—" Jack stopped when he realized a very important detail. Bunny was resting in the infirmary when he and North decided to go back to the Warren, and Tooth and Sandy came back to the Pole to watch him. Bunny was in his…not-so right mind when he came back to the Warren. Studying Tooth and Sandy's faces, he knew immediately that something happened in between the time he and North left and the time Bunny came to the Warren. "W-Wait, Tooth, what happened? Was…was Bunny okay when you guys checked on him?"

"He was at first," Tooth replied looking at Sandy, who nodded in agreement. "Right after you two left for the Warren, we checked on Bunny, and he was sound asleep. Sandy gave him some dreamsand, and we decided to leave him alone with the yetis outside and to check on him a little later. I was with my fairies while Sandy checked on the workshop for about an hour, and when we went to check on Bunny…"

The memory was still fresh in her mind…

* * *

" _Sandy?" Tooth asked flying up to the Sandman. "It's been an hour. You think maybe we should check on Bunny now?"_

 _Sandy nodded quickly and floated alongside his fellow Guardian, and soon enough, they arrived at the infirmary only to come to a horrible sight. Tooth could only gasp at the sight…Bunny crouched down snarling like a wild animal backed into a corner with two yetis trying to calm the Guardian of Hope down, and the infirmary was a complete mess almost as if someone attacked it._

" _What in the name of Manny is going on?" Tooth asked the group as Sandy flashed a question mark above his head. "Bunny, what happened? Are you alright?"_

 _Before either of the yetis could answer the Tooth Fairy, Bunny growled and snarled as he laid his eyes on Tooth and Sandy causing them to gasp. Neither of them had ever seen Bunny like this before, and it was somewhat frightening for the Guardians of Memories and Dreams._

" _Where are they?!" Bunny snarled looking around. "Where is my family?!"_

" _Bunny…Bunny, please…please just calm down," Tooth said as she flew closer to the enraged Pooka only to shriek in fear when Bunny suddenly struck her on the arm causing her to fall back. After inspecting the three scratches on her right arm, she gasped when she saw that Bunny was getting ready to attack yet again._

 _Thankfully, before anything could happen, Sandy used his golden sand throwing it in Bunny's face causing the Pooka to fall over asleep._

 _Tooth sighed in relief. "Thanks, Sandy," she said breathing heavily._

 _After he gave her a thumbs-up, the two out of the five Guardians turned back to their sleeping comrade and the two yetis who were looking around at the mess that was lying about in the infirmary._

" _What happened in here, guys?" Tooth asked the large abominable snowmen._

 _One of the yetis garbled his response explaining how sometime after Tooth and Sandy left Bunny sleeping in the bed, Bunny suddenly woke up and attacked the room and the infirmary. It was almost as if the Pooka was fighting something…or someone…_

 _Tooth gasped as Sandy simply stared in wide-eyed shock. This was oddly similar to what Jack told them about Bunny suddenly attacking him before they left for their camping trip, and it was at that moment Tooth remembered her conversation with Jack regarding Bunny and his memories._

 _It was pretty clear now. Bunny was in trouble, and the only way to find out was through his memories. Perhaps, if she took a peek at his memories, she could finally find the answer…finally figure out what was going through the Pooka's head. She took a deep breath and knelt down beside the sleeping Easter Bunny, and then she placed a hand on his forehead. She closed her eyes focusing on Bunny's memories from the past few weeks._

 _Then everything went white again as Tooth was brought out of the memories gasping from the jolt._

 _The Tooth Fairy looked up at Sandy and the yetis slowly fluttering her wings lifting herself off the floor._

" _Sandy, let's get Bunny back into bed," Tooth said. "As soon as North and Jack get back from the Warren, we'll need to find Pitch. He's definitely got something to do with this."_

* * *

"Then we left Bunny in the room for a while with more yetis inside with him," Tooth said as Jack and North surveyed the damage in the infirmary in complete shock. "We came back after a while to check on him again, but when we did…Bunny was gone. We were about to go to the Warren when you two finally came back."

"He probably had another…" Jack paused to think of the right word, "episode and went straight for the Warren," he mused. "When he found us, he just attacked us. We had to fight him."

"Oh no…" Tooth said with great concern.

"He even went so far as to use one of my swords against us," North added thinking back on the awful memory of one of his fellow Guardians and oldest friend pointing the sword at him and then later at Jack after the boy tackled the Pooka to save him. It pained him to think that he almost failed to save his boy in return when the scar on his stomach was aggravated.

Jack seemed to have sensed this because he gently placed his hand on the big man's arm giving him a small smile silently telling him that it was alright. North smiled in return and wrapped his arm around Jack's shoulder.

"So, what did you see in his memories, Tooth?" Jack asked making a mental note to explain that to North hoping that the big man would not be angry with him for keeping the conversation he had with Tooth a secret.

"It was very strange," Tooth replied, "and very different from when we looked into yours, Jack. There were memories of what happened before and after Bunny's episodes, but during…it was just black…nothing happened. I tried to access them, but there seemed to be a mental block sealing them."

"Like…he can't remember what happens…" Jack mused as the fog had finally started to lift on this mystery. What if Bunny really wasn't playing dumb? Not that Jack thought that he would, but it would explain why the Guardian of Hope seemed to have no idea what was going on when these ended.

"Exactly," Tooth replied. "If Bunny has no memory of what happens, then it's not going to be visible in his head."

Jack nodded in understanding. He and Tooth had a similar conversation before regarding his own memories in his toothbox, specifically his death at the age of 17. His memories were erased when he became Jack Frost, and trying to access them was no easy task. However, that was because of him dying as a mortal human and being resurrected by Manny himself. With Bunny however…

"But what could cause Bunny to lose bits and pieces of his memories?" the boy finally asked.

"And who…or what could be powerful enough to do so?" North added. "Only you have power over memories, Tooth." He was getting a very bad feeling deep in his belly that a certain Boogeyman was somehow involved, but as they had said before, Pitch had no power over memories, only nightmares.

Sandy gestured to Jack and North to follow him and Tooth to the room where Bunny was sleeping in before he succumbed to whatever it was. The Guardians of Wonder and Fun complied and followed the Guardians of Memories and Dreams into the room, where they last saw Bunny before they went to the Warren, and sure enough, the room was in complete disarray, similar to the main room of the infirmary. However, that clearly was not what Tooth and Sandy wanted to show them. Instead, they led them to the bed and the corner of the room.

"Look at what's on the floor," Tooth said as she pointed to the green sand on the floor, "and it's on the bed too."

Jack perched himself on top of his staff to get a better view, and he became confused once he saw what Tooth was pointing to. "I-Is that…sand?" he asked.

"Not just sand, my boy," North replied. " _Green_ sand."

"So, what? Does sand come in all different colors now?" Jack asked.

Sandy chuckled at Jack's comment, and Jack smirked enjoying that he made the Sandman laugh.

"So, who would leave green sand? The Leprechaun?" Jack asked. "He doesn't strike me as someone who uses sand."

Now, North chuckled as he stood up straight and looked up at his boy. "No, no, son," he said stroking his beard thoughtfully. "This was definitely not the Leprechaun. There is only one immortal-besides Sandy-who uses sand as a weapon."

"If it's who I think you're thinking of, North," Tooth began, "then I completely agree with you."

"A certain…Boogeyman, perhaps?" North replied raising an eyebrow.

Jack was about to respond but stopped himself when he realized…that North and Tooth probably weren't that far off in thinking that the Nightmare King himself was responsible for what had been happening to the Guardian of Hope.

"Wait a minute…" the Guardian of Fun said aloud. "Tooth, you said you looked at Bunny's memories of these…episodes, right?"

"That's right," the Guardian of Memories replied.

"Were you able to figure out when this whole thing started?" Jack asked.

"As a matter of fact, I did," Tooth replied. "Remember when Bunny said that he couldn't remember what happened between him and Pitch? Well, from what I saw, Pitch and Bunny did get into a fight, and Pitch seemed to keep insisting that everyone feared him, especially Bunny. However, Bunny just grew angry at Pitch, but he was knocked out. The next time he woke up was in the infirmary."

Jack's blue eyes widened at Tooth's answer. The pieces of the puzzle were finally coming together; he could feel it. After the last few times Bunny claimed that he couldn't remember his actions just moments before he snapped back to reality, he should've realized it! They all should've! Pitch had to have been the cause of Bunny's odd behavior the past few weeks.

His look of shock turned into a glare. Pitch played them for fools…again! "Something tells me we might've just figured out what Pitch did to Bunny," he said.

"Yes, I believe so, too, Jack," Tooth replied. "However, there are still a few elements that don't make sense. How does this…green sand affect the victim's memory? And…what exactly does it do when Bunny acts the way he does?"

The three male Guardians stopped and looked at her and then at each other realizing that the Tooth Fairy had a valid point. Pitch had no control over one's memories, as they established this during the Nightmare Prince incident, and while this green sand certainly made Bunny angry…it still didn't explain what the point of it was. What was the green sand doing to Bunny's mind?

"It's as I said before," North finally said. "No more talking or waiting. We can no longer afford to do so. We must return to Pitch's lair and demand answers."

"I agree," Jack added as Sandy nodded crossing his arms.

"So do I," Tooth replied, "but should we get Bunny?"

All three male Guardians cringed at the question regarding Bunny. He was clearly going to still be angry at North and Jack for what they said to him, but then again if he realized that Pitch was somehow involved…maybe he would be willing to come. However, if Pitch was indeed behind…whatever was happening to Bunny…then they would be basically handing the Pooka over to the Boogeyman.

"No, is too risky," North finally replied. "Bunny is not in his right mind, and it would only make it worse if he's anywhere near Pitch. We will go to Pitch, and then we will go to Warren to find Bunny."

Tooth, Sandy, and Jack nodded in agreement with their leader's decision.

With that being said, North took out another snowglobe. Now was the time for action, and the four out of the five Guardians were ready to face their worst enemy.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** THAT'S RIGHT! It's time to confront Pitch, and the Guardians will not take this lying down! We shall see what happens with Pitch and with Bunny in the next chapter!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I decided to show you what happened before Bunny returned to the Warren and attacked North and Jack. This way, we can see how Tooth and Sandy reacted to Bunny in this state of mind. Now, all four of the other Guardians have seen Bunny in his condition, and are willing to get to the bottom of it. Don't forget to leave a review, follow, and favorite, and stay tuned for CHAPTER 16! Thanks again, guys!


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note:** Hey, fellow readers! I have finally returned with CHAPTER 16 of We're Your Family Too! Once again, I apologize for the delay. Work once again has been pretty busy and required a lot of my attention, but don't worry! I have returned, like I said! More updates are on the way, and we are getting down to the wire here! I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and before we move on…REVIEW REPLIES!

 **Sofie Rose: Indeed they are! We shall see how this story unfolds! An update is finally here! I hope you like what's coming next! Thank you for sticking with me! I really appreciate it!**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to** _ **Rise of the Guardians**_ **.**

* * *

Chapter 16

Bunny knew he was finally alone in his Warren when he heard a snow globe portal activate and disappear after a moment. The Pooka could only sigh and pinch the bridge of his nose trying to stop the pounding headache, but his efforts were in vain. The headache kept coming and seemed to get worse with each passing second. Between seeing the damage that had been done to his beautiful home and everything in it and his friends…Jack and North's accusations…he wasn't sure what was worse. Did Tooth and Sandy think this as well?

"Are they all turning against me?" Bunny asked aloud to himself. "Why would they think I did this? This can't be some joke…or prank that Jack put together. He would never sink that low…would he?" Bunny shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts and began to pace back and forth. "No…no…that's crazy…Stop being gumby, Aster… They would never do that…but if what they say is true…why can't I remember it…? Did I black out?"

The Pooka stopped immediately and shook his head again. "Why am I talking to myself?" he asked aloud. He then sighed as he fell to his knees. "I…I…I need some asleep…that's it. I just need some—" The Guardian of Hope grunted in pain as the pounding headache increased tenfold forcing him to his knees. He clutched his head with both hands, and his sight became hazy. The next thing he knew…everything went black.

* * *

 _He saw red again, and then the shadowy figures appeared in front of him again. They were taunting him again. Even after seeing him mourn over his brother's death, they were still taunting him. Anger…rage…hate…filled him inside. He resumed his battle stance and snarled at these monsters. This was it. He was going to destroy them once and for all, so he lunged at the shadows tackling one of them to the ground._

* * *

Bunny jolted awake as he sat up breathing heavily. Did something or someone knock him out? Did Sandy sneak up on him to make sure he got some rest? The Pooka looked around and couldn't find any sign of the Sandman anywhere. He couldn't see him or smell him. He wasn't here, but if he wasn't here, then what happened?

The Guardian of Hope was about to stand up when he felt something in his paws, so he looked down and widened his eyes at the horrible sight in front of him. His egglets…crushed and broken into pieces…under his paws, and to his horror, that wasn't all. His plants were ripped up from the ground.

"What…what happened?" Bunny asked breathing heavily as he stood up. His head spun as he surveyed the damage. Did he do this? "What…what is this…? Wh-?" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his little googies looking on at the damage…their fallen fellow egglets, and they were trembling.

Bunny immediately forgot about his initial confusion when he took a step toward them to comfort them. However, he froze when the egglets suddenly ran away. They ran away from…him…their protector…their caretaker…and his heart pounded in his furry chest. They were afraid of him. Why? He looked down at the broken eggs at his feet, and he gasped.

"No…no…no, it…it's not true…" Bunny said stepping backwards away from the scene. "I couldn't have…I would've remembered… I would've stopped myself…" He tried to think back on what happened after his headache came on—the last thing he remembered before waking up again, but…there was nothing. It was all a blank! He groaned in frustration as he grabbed his head trying harder to think about what happened, but…nothing still. It was almost as if he blacked out.

If he truly was responsible, then why couldn't he remember anything? Why was it a blank? Was this why he suddenly woke up in the Pole, why he found himself standing over Jack with North's sword in his hand? This was too much for the Pooka to process, as he fell to his knees. His head was spinning, and he felt as if he was going to be sick to his stomach. He needed to get away from this bloody Warren…away from the other Guardians. If he was truly responsible for this damage, then there was no telling what he would do to his fellow Guardians.

"I…I got to get out of here…" he finally said. "I got to get out of here."

With lightning speed, the Guardian of Hope hopped away from the scene and jumped into one of his tunnels.

* * *

As soon as the colorful portal appeared, the four out of the five Guardians jumped through and found themselves in Pitch's lair. With whatever was going on with Bunny, they didn't have time to sit and wait for one of the Boogeyman's nightmares. The time to act was now! The sooner they could get these answers from the Boogeyman himself, the sooner they could get back to Bunny to solve this mystery.

"Pitch! Come out of the shadows _now_!" North shouted.

"You've got some explaining to do!" Jack added looking around the lair for any signs of the Boogeyman.

They paused and looked around waiting for Pitch to slither out of the shadows to confront them or to send his Nightmares after them, but…nothing happened. Other than the fluttering of Tooth's wings, there was complete silence.

"Uhhh…Pitch?" Jack finally called out relaxing his battle stance just a little. "Hey…uh…Mr. Boogeyman…? Some Guardians are here…to—you know—kick your butt? Now would be a good time to make your entrance!"

No answer came. The silence resumed.

"I…I don't think he's here, guys," Tooth finally said.

"But if he's not here…then where could he be?" North asked as he surveyed the dark lair.

Within seconds, Jack's blue eyes widened, as realization slapped him in the face. "If he's not here…then…"

"He's going after Bunny!" Jack and Tooth shouted in unison.

North quickly got another snow globe out of his pocket. "We must get to the Warren—AGH!" He was suddenly interrupted as a blur of black came from the darkness forcefully knocking the snow globe out of his hand.

"North, are you okay?" Jack asked with concern etched all over his face.

"Yes, I'm fine," the big man replied rubbing his hand, "but we are not alone."

As soon as he said that, the Guardians of Wonder, Memories, Dreams, and Fun were greeted by whinnying sounds from the darkness. Nightmares darted out from every direction heading straight for them.

"It's a trap!" Tooth yelled out as she and the others prepared for battle.

Without any hesitation, all the Nightmares raced down toward the Guardians, who immediately engaged in the fight. North swung his words at them while Jack shot blasts of frost at the stallions. Tooth moved about using her wings as weapons, and Sandy of course used his sand whips to purify the corrupted dreamsand. However, even though neither of them said it aloud, the more Nightmares they managed to destroy, the more suddenly emerged from the shadows to replace them. This was one battle that appeared to never end.

Jack jumped from one point to the next as he continued to blast frost at any Nightmares that came near him. All the while, he kept his eyes and ears out for a certain Boogeyman hoping he would prove their suspicions of him going to the Warren, but his attention was always drawn back to the battle they found themselves in. It was pretty clear what was happening here! Before Jack could relay this knowledge to his fellow guardians, he saw his adoptive father fighting off several of the black sand horses. However, he didn't seem to notice a few more racing toward him from behind, so Jack raced over to him and blasted frost at the Boogeyman's minions freezing them.

"Pitch must've known that we would stop here first to look for him!" Jack shouted as they continued to fight the Nightmares.

"To keep us distracted while he went to find Bunny!" North shouted in reply.

"Then let's not give him that satisfaction," Tooth shouted to the Guardians of Wonder and Fun as she destroyed a few more Nightmares with her wings, "and get to the Warren and get Bunny out of there!"

"Excellent idea, Toothy!" North replied. "However, we need to find my snow globe!"

"WHAT?!" Tooth and Jack asked incredulously in unison.

"That moon-forsaken Nightmare knocked it out of my hand!" North explained.

"Sure…why make it easy?" Jack mumbled under his breath as he shot another blast of frost at some more Nightmares.

"Anyone who finds it tell it to take us to the Warren and open up the portal!" North ordered his fellow Guardians, specifically the winter spirit and the Tooth Fairy since his snowglobes required a verbal command.

* * *

The Pooka ran through the tunnel as fast as he could. He had to get away…away from his googies…away from his golems…away from his Warren…away…away from his fellow Guardians…away from the children of the world. If he could black out and succumb to…whatever this madness was at any moment…then there was no telling what he could do to North, Tooth, Sandy, and Jack. Worst of all, what if he were to accidentally frighten….or hurt a child…the children he vowed to protect so many years ago? No…he couldn't let that happen. He had to get away and just think. He didn't care where he was going. He just wanted to be alone. He had grown accustomed to being alone before the Guardians. He could do it again, especially if it meant keeping them and the children safe from whatever it was he had been doing.

Within minutes, the tunnel opened allowing light in, and as soon as it opened, Bunny hopped out of the tunnel and widened his eyes when he saw where he was. He was intending to come here, but…it was still overwhelming to see his old village. He could tell that no one had been there to visit….not since the last time he came. The scents were faded. It was a ghost town, and yet it was the perfect place to be alone for a while.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Alright, guys! That was Chapter 16 for you! I hope you all liked it! We will see what happens in CHAPTER 17! It's going to be a race against the clock as they Guardians try to get to Bunny before Pitch does, but it's kind of hard to do that when you got the Nightmares to worry about. As you saw, Bunny is now aware that something is not right. The past few times this has happened, the Guardians were there to help him snap out of these episodes, but this time, he got to see the extent of what has happening to him. We will see what happens, so get excited! Don't forget to leave a review, please! I love reading them, and I know, I'm not as consistent as I used to be with updates. I really do try, and I will not rest until my stories are finished! See you in Chapter 17! Thanks, guys!


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's Note:** Hello, hello, readers! I have returned with CHAPTER 17! And yes, the wait was shorter this time! Yay! I'm really doing my best to get these chapters out to you, so I really appreciate you guys sticking around for this. Like I've said, I will not stop until all my stories are finished.

 **Nelson: Indeed there is! Just as North and Jack share a father/son bond, Bunny and Jack share a brotherly bond! Yay, family feels!**

 **Sofie Rose: Yes, Guardians, HURRY! Bunny needs your help! Thank you so much for reviewing and for your kind words! I hope you continue to like what happens next!**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to** _ **Rise of the Guardians**_ **.**

* * *

Chapter 17

The battle continued to rage on between the Guardians and Pitch's loyal Nightmares, and it showed no signs of stopping any time soon. The four Guardians tried to keep an eye out for North's snow globe knowing that it was their only chance to escape and find their comrade and best friend. However, it was proven to be a difficult task when the black sand horses came at them from all directions. Plus, there was limited light reaching the underground lair. All in all, things did not look good for North, Tooth, Sandy, and Jack.

Nevertheless, they continued to press on through the fight not having any intention on giving up. They couldn't afford to give up when Bunny was in grave danger. They all knew it…that they had to find the fifth Guardian before the Boogeyman did.

"If anyone found that snow globe, don't be shy!" Jack suddenly said as he fended off a few more Nightmares with his staff only to be replaced by more.

"I wish that were the case, Jack," Tooth replied, "but I'm not having much luck here either!"

"We must not give up!" North shouted as he swung his swords at the Nightmares. "Keep trying!"

Sandy continued his own personal battle with the Nightmares, as he stood on his cloud using his sand whips to destroy them. He wouldn't admit it to his fellow Guardians, but this was eerily similar to the first battle with Pitch in Burgess just a few months ago…the same battle that ended with Pitch firing a black sand arrow at his back.

Thankfully, Jack noticed this and jumped up to the chaos happening above him and flew toward Sandy using the hook of his staff to grab his best friend getting him away from the overwhelming Nightmares.

"There was no way I would let that happen twice," Jack said. He was so focused on the Sandman that he didn't notice a Nightmare sneak up behind him.

Without much warning, one of the Nightmares threw its hooves into Jack's back causing him to lose his bearings and fall to the floor with Sandy.

"Aw man, I…really _hate_ these things…" Jack said as he and Sandy struggled to get up. He suddenly gasped when he heard a familiar horse whinnying above him. Sure enough, another Nightmare came racing down toward him and Sandy, so he quickly grabbed his staff and shot a blast of frost at it freezing it.

At that moment, Jack noticed something shiny in the dark lair, and he immediately knew what it was. "I found the snow globe!" Jack shouted. "It's over there!"

"Grab it, Sweet Tooth!" Tooth shouted as she caught one of the swords North threw to her and focused on the Nightmares that came toward her.

The Guardian of Fun nodded to the Guardian of Memories, and then he turned to the Guardian of Dreams. "Cover me, Sandy!" Jack said as they stood up.

Sandy nodded, and without any hesitation, the two guardians ran toward the snow globe with Sandy guarding Jack and using his sand to destroy any nightmares that tried to come near them. Fortunately, Jack grabbed it, but the victory was short-lived when most of the Nightmares started coming toward him and Sandy.

The winter spirit knew that it would not be good if the Nightmares followed them into the Warren. They needed to distract them. He looked around at North and Tooth, and his eyes immediately went to the Tooth Fairy. She was high up and had a weapon to help her fight the Nightmares. It was the perfect distance away to give Jack, Sandy, and North time to distract the Nightmares, and with that in mind, Jack smirked. He had an idea!

"Sandy, follow my lead! I got an idea!" Jack shouted to him. "Tooth!"

The Tooth Fairy looked at the boy, but before she could even think about the fact that Jack and Sandy were surrounded by the Nightmares, Jack had thrown the snow globe to her. Thankfully, she caught it just in time.

"Get us out of here!" Jack shouted to her. "We can take care of these guys!"

"You got it, Jack!" Tooth shouted. As soon as she said that, she turned around only to see a few Nightmares coming right for her.

Fortunately, Sandy saw this and destroyed them with his whips just in time.

"Thanks, Sandy!" Tooth shouted to the little man.

"Tooth, tell it to take us to the Warren! We must find Bunny!" North shouted as he fought the Nightmares trying his best to distract them from his female comrade.

"Got it!" Tooth replied. She turned to the snow globe and whispered their intended destination before throwing it to the ground creating a portal. "It's open!"

"Jack, Sandy!" he swung his sword at a Nightmare and then at another. "We must hurry! I don't know how long portal stays open!"

"Then let's get all the Nightmares in one spot," Jack shouted to his adoptive father. "Sandy and I have a plan!"

"You got it, my boy!" North shouted in reply. Then, he did as his adoptive son said and swung his sword at the Nightmares pushing them back into the corner.

Jack smiled feeling the pride over his adoptive father's words and continued to fire frost at the sand horses. He made sure to hit a few of them but also pretend to miss them to scare them into a corner. Fortunately, out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Sandy and North were following his lead. Soon enough, all the Nightmares were backed into a corner of the lair, and Sandy quickly decided to take matters into his own hands…or rather…his _and_ Jack's hands.

The Guardian of Dreams formed a ball of golden dream sand, and he looked to Jack smirking and showing him the ball. The Guardian of Fun did not need symbols to figure out what the Sandman had in mind.

"Go for it!" Jack said as he got his staff ready.

Sandy widened his smirk and threw his ball of sand at the Nightmares, and then Jack fired a blast of frost at it causing the sand and the frost to explode forming a barrier of golden sand and ice in front of the Nightmares freezing them.

Jack didn't say it aloud, but he couldn't help but notice the difference between this and the structure he created when fighting with Pitch on Easter Sunday. It felt stronger and sturdy but also friendly looking instead of dark and bleak.

"We did it!" Jack shouted as he gave Sandy a high-five.

North let out a laugh as Tooth smiled, both of them beaming from ear to ear.

"Great job, guys!" Tooth said as she stood by the portal taking a mental note that it was starting to shrink.

"Klasno!" North said wrapping his arms around Sandy and Jack. "This should hold them!"

"Now, let's go find Bunny! The portal is about to close!" Tooth said with determination in her voice.

The three male Guardians did as they were told and jumped through the portal. Tooth did one last check behind her to make sure that no stray Nightmares popped out for another attack, and once she was sure the coast was clear, she followed her comrades through the portal right before it closed.

"Let's find Bunny," North said as soon as they landed in the Warren. "He must be around here somewhere."

"Hopefully, he's in a listening mood," Jack commented.

"W-Wait, wait, what are we going to do once we find him?" Tooth quickly asked remembering what their friend was like during these episodes he had been experiencing. "What if he slips into this…behavior again?"

North sighed. This was one question he was hoping to avoid at the moment. If he was being honest with himself, he wasn't quite sure what the best plan of action was if and possibly when Bunny experienced another episode due to this green sand, that was found in the infirmary. Clearly, Bunny wasn't himself when he succumbed to this mysterious sand, but what could they do? Fight him? Restrain him? Reason with him? He was far too aggressive to the point where he almost stabbed him and Jack and attacked Tooth and Sandy. The Guardian of Wonder finally took a deep breath and looked at his three fellow Guardians.

"Let's cross bridge when we get there, Toothy," he finally said. "If we have to fight Bunny or restrain him, then we must be prepared."

Tooth, Sandy, and Jack nodded in agreement.

"Now, let's find Bunny…but quietly," North said. "We don't know what state he's in right now."

"It's pretty quiet," Jack said looking around and following his adoptive father. "Maybe he fell asleep or something?"

Neither of the veteran Guardian answered the youngest as they slowly proceeded through the Warren to find their fifth member. All was quiet within the realm of the Easter Bunny with the exception of the little egglets peeking out from the bushes. Not wanting to split up, the four out of the five Guardians searched for the Guardian of Hope and any possible signs of the Boogeyman's presence. So far as they went deeper into the Warren, there was no sign of Bunny or even Pitch, but they refused to give up on their search.

* * *

The Guardian of Hope ran as fast as his legs could carry him. As soon as he stepped into the village, the memories of his past…of his family…of his little brother…of that awful day…came flooding back, and with the added weight to the current situation, it was far too much. He ran through the village and into the forest nearby…or what was left of it wanting nothing more than to be alone. He needed time to think and time to figure out what was happening to him.

* * *

"Do you think Pitch beat us here and took him?" Tooth asked nervously.

"It's possible," North replied stroking his chin in deep thought.

"But where would he take Bunny?" Jack asked. "We were just in his lair."

The four out of the five Guardians had been looking around for any signs of Bunny or Pitch for the past hour or so, not wanting to miss anything that could potentially help them, and so far, they came up with nothing…again. They only found more of Bunny's broken eggs, which led them to believe that the Pooka experienced another episode some time after Jack and North left him. Other than that, there were no other clues as to whether Pitch captured Bunny again or not. Then again, as Jack said, they were just in Pitch's lair, and surely, if the Boogeyman had captured Bunny, there was no doubt that he wouldn't resist the chance to gloat instead of having his Nightmares fight them.

"Then he must be still looking for Bunny," North finally said after a moment of silence. "If he believed that his Nightmares would've kept us busy, why would he not return with Bunny?"

"Well, that's a good theory," Tooth began crossing her arms, "but that still doesn't give us any idea as to where Bunny went."

North sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, not out of frustration with his adoptive son and fellow Guardians. It was more directed at the fact that they once again hit a wall in trying to solve this mystery. Pieces had finally started adding up about Bunny's behavior and Pitch's involvement, but nothing else seemed to support it. North racked his brain with questions. Where was Bunny? Is Pitch really going after him? Was he looking for Bunny? Would he know where to find the Pooka? Where else would the Pooka even go?

As soon as that last question crossed his mind, North racked his brain even more for answers. Where else would Bunny go if Pitch didn't capture him? He wanted him and Jack to leave him alone after they informed him that he was possibly responsible for the initial damage to his Warren, and they complied. North had figured that Bunny would remain in his realm and sulk, but that clearly wasn't the case. He wouldn't go to their homes, especially the Pole.

"Is there any other place Bunny would go to?" Jack asked leaning up against a tree. "Like…I-I don't know…a place where he knows we wouldn't think to find him in."

"Yes…Yes, Jack!" Tooth said excitedly. "If Bunny really wants to be alone, he would go somewhere he doesn't want to be found."

That was when realization struck him in the face, as the memory of one particular day popped into his head.

* * *

 _A much younger Nicholas St. North followed the Pooka, through his new realm, the Warren._

" _Aster, where are you taking me?" he asked._

" _Relax, mate, it's not much farther. I figured that since I'm going to be spending an eternity with you, Tooth, and Sandy, one of you might as well know this."_

 _The young ex-Cossack noticed that Aster stopped at the back of the Warren, and on a wall, a passageway similar to the main tunnels that lead to the surface._

* * *

The memory quickly faded as he looked to his fellow Guardians. The ex-Cossack was about to speak when he stopped himself; Bunny had made him promise that he would not break his silence to Tooth, Sandy, and, now, Jack. He then shook his head. If Bunny was going to be angry at him, then he could at least go on knowing he did the right thing to his oldest friend.

"I know where that place might be," he finally said.

Tooth, Sandy, and Jack looked at him in anticipation, and North took a deep breath.

"Follow me," he finally said.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** So, as mentioned in the early chapters, North knew of Bunny and Pitch's history, and now, it looks like he might finally let the others in on what he knows. Let's see if he will eventually fess up. What do you think? Let me know what you thought about the fight scene. I'm not all that good at writing fight scenes… I thought it turned out okay, but let me know what you think! Well, that's all for now, folks, and I will see you in CHAPTER 18. I'm hoping to have this story wrapped up completely before summer ends, so stay tuned! Don't forget to leave a review! Thanks, guys!


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